This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Philippines.
History
Origin
In 1767, the first post office was established in Manila, which was later organized as a postal district of Spain, encompassing Manila and the Philippine archipelago, in 1779. The postal district was reestablished on December 5, 1837. Manila became known as a leading center of postal services within Asia. Spain joined the Universal Postal Union in 1875, which was announced two years later.
During the Philippine Revolution, President Emilio Aguinaldo ordered the establishment of a postal service. It was later organized as a bureau under the Department of Trade and Industry, then known as the Department of Trade, on September 5, 1902. The Philippines joined the Universal Postal Union as a sovereign entity, on January 1, 1922.
The pre-stamp era
During the early Spanish regime, exchange of letters and communications was limited to those belonging to government officials and Catholic Church officials. Letters, communications and documents were carried by badageros who rendered free services to the colonial government. Badageros either hiked or rode on horseback in dispatching the early postal service from "Tribunal (town hall) to tribunal or to the "Casa Real" (provincial capital).
The badageros were also called Polistos, classified as male citizens over 18 years who did not hold a public office like the Gobernadorcillo (Mayor), Teniente primero y segundo (vice-mayor), the Juez, Cabesas (councilors), the Commesarios and Cuadrillos (Policeman) and Escribanos (clerks). Badageros performed their courier services by rotation. Two badageros were assigned every day at the Tribunal to be relieved the next day. If letters or communications were urgent, the badageros had to go and dispatch them even at midnight.
Armed guards (Polistos) wre posted at the outskirts of every poblacion and when challenged by the guards at night, the couriers responded with badageros and the guards would allow them to pass. Upon delivery to the next tribunal, the recipient was required to sign on a booklet to show receipt like special delivery/registered mail. Important papers such as appointments from the Capitan General (Governor General), were receipted with signatures of the appointees and others present as witnesses.
Envelopes were unknown during early times. Letters, communications, and document sheets were just folded. Secrecy in the mails was not practiced. A letter or communication might change hands many times depending upon the number of Poblaciones between the origin and the destination. In some cases, it took from one to two months before a communication reached the recipient.
Adhesive postage stamps were apparently issued in the Islands before 1854, but the existence of a postal service was clearly evident. On the titles and official duties of one Capitan General Don Felix Berenguer De Marquina, who executed a documentary appointment in 1791, his titles and duties were listed, viz "Brigadier De La Real, General de estas Islas Filipinas, Presidente de su Real Audencia y Caancelleria, Director General de las Tropas de S.M. en estos Dominion, Superentendente General Subdelegado de Real Hacienda, y Renta de Correo".
No personnel expenses were necessary to maintain this system, as badageros rendered their services free to the Colonial Government.
A letter postmarked August 11, 1843, in Madrid was received and cancelled in Manila on April 13, 1844, or a matter of 245 days.
Before February 1, 1854, the use of postage stamps was unknown. A crude form of postal services in the country existed before that date. Records show that in 1791 the limited mail transmission was already carried on in a limited manner by the Spanish Government.
First stamps
On December 7, 1853, Spanish Governor General Antonio de Urbiztondo ordered the establishment of prepaid postage for all mail, beginning 1 February 1854.
The first stamps were issued that day in four denominations: the 5 quartos, the 10 quartos, the 1 real, and the 2 reales. These stamps depicted a profile of an effigy of Spanish Queen Isabela II.