Mythical heroes to come alive in PhilPost stamps

MANILA, Philippines - Forgotten mythical heroes will come alive this year in postage stamps to be issued by the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost).

Postmaster-General Josefina dela Cruz recently announced that PhilPost is finalizing plans to feature at least five – from an original list of 12 – mythical heroes that would include Maria Makiling, Bernardo Carpio and Amihan.

She believes that this would be the first time that PhilPost will feature Filipino myths. Through these stamps, PhilPost also aims to enrich young Filipinos’ knowledge of the country’s culture, she said.

“Our target is the young. We want to use the stamps to entice and educate them. We do not want them to be only interested in stamps but also in our history and culture. We also want to attract (stamp) collectors,” she said.

PhilPost intends to come out with one folklore hero stamp every quarter. The first of the series of these topical stamps will be released by March.

Maria Makiling, considered to be one of the most popular fairies, is described to be breathtakingly beautiful and forever young. She is associated with Mount Makiling in Laguna and is believed to be the guardian of the mountain.

According to Philippine mythology, Amihan is a bird and the first creature to exist in the universe. It reportedly saved the first human beings named Malakas and Maganda from being encased in a bamboo plant.

As for the Filipino folk hero Bernardo Carpio, there is some confusion on his size, whether he is a giant or just an ordinary man. But what is prominent about him is his strength that is often compared to that of mythical Greek demigod Hercules.