PHLPost releases Yuletide stamps

MANILA, Philippines - Foot and mouth painters shared their talent to come out with this year’s traditional special Yuletide stamps released recently by the Philippine Postal Corp.

PHLPost announced that the four designs used for this year’s Christmas stamp were done by mouth painters Jovy Sasutona, Bernard Pesigan, and John Roland Feruelo and foot painter Amado Binuag Dulnuan.

The four artists are members of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (AMFPA).

Jose Antonio Jayme was layout artist.

Printed on each stamp were the words “Pilipinas” on top and “Pasko” at the bottom. Each stamp would be sold at P10, while a souvenir sheet costs P30.

The PHLPost produced 200,000 stamps and 5,000 souvenir sheets.

The stamps, printed by Amstar Co., have been sold to the public since Nov. 25. They would be made available to the public until Nov. 24 next year or until supply runs out.

“Handicapped people are being encouraged and helped financially to develop their work to other’s standard. Their works are offered on artistic merit and value,” PHLPost said.

The artist Sasutona is a Filipino mouth painter born on Oct. 7, 1963. He lost his hands in a diving accident. From there on, he learned to write and paint with his mouth. He was encouraged by Dulnuan to join the AMFPA. His Christmas card entitled “Golden Years” won first prize at the International Art Competition of AMFPA’s 50th Anniversary held in Vienna, Austria on April 30, 2007.

Dulnuan was born with no arms on May 3, 1957. But his disability did not deter him from finishing his studies at university. He specializes in watercolor painting and his work won several competitions, including first prize for creativity in London. The foot painter is married with two children.

Pesigan, the fifth of 10 siblings, was born on June 3, 1963. A motorbike accident in March 1988 left him paralyzed from the neck down. Pesigan took up mouth painting after Sasutona encouraged him to paint using his mouth.

John Roland Feruelo was born June 23, 1965. A diving accident on March 5, 1989 left him with a severe spinal cord injury. He was referred by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation to apply with AMFPA.