MANILA, Philippines - Due to insistent public demand, the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhlPost) yesterday announced that they would reprint an additional 10,000 pieces of Pope Francis’ coinage stamps.
PhlPost said the second batch of coinage stamps on the pontiff is being manufactured in Thailand and will be made available by Jan. 29.
Aside from trooping to postal offices, those who cannot get over the “Francis effect” and would want to add a stamp to their collection of souvenirs of the Holy Father’s first historic visit to the country could place their advance orders online.
“To protect the public’s interest, we encourage the public who want a piece of a Pope Francis memorabilia in the form of stamps to purchase online through the PhlPost web portal, at face value,” postmaster general Josefina de la Cruz said.
According to De la Cruz, the Pope Francis stamps and souvenir sheets are among the fastest selling stamps in the history of the postal service.
Last Jan. 13, PhlPost released the first batch of the Pope Francis stamp consisting of 7,000 pieces and on that day alone, all the stamps were sold.
A source at the post office advised the public to order the stamps online because there are pope stamps circulating in the black market and the price is doubled.
“For example, if the PhlPost is selling the coinage stamp at P200, in the black market it can be bought for about P400,” the source said.
The gold circular stamp features the smiling pope with the words “Pilipinas,” “Pope Francis’ Visit to the Philippines 2015,” and “Mercy and Compassion.”
The printing technology used for this one-of-a-kind stamp is 3D embossing hot copper foil. The coinage stamp measures 9 cm x 9 cm.
To buy the stamps, log on to www.phlpost.gov.ph and click the Pinoy eMall icon to be directed to the website Pinoy e-Mall, which offers a complete e-commerce solution from online selling, purchasing and payment of goods up to delivery.
Payments may be in the form of electronic postal money order (e-PostMO) or Visa card.