A three-day commemoration awaits the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) as it celebrates the 227th anniversary year of the Philippine Postal Service.

Dubbed as the “Postal Consciousness Week”, the hostilities kicks-off on November 8 with a Thanksgiving Mass at 7:30 a.m. and followed by a Flag Raising Ceremony at 8:30 a.m. A special program is also set to start at 10:00 a.m. with Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Chairperson, Hon. Ivan John E. Uy, as guest of honor. Parts of the program includes the launching of the Community E-Center (CeC) project, the awarding of the outstanding postal employees and the presentation of a souvenir frame by Philpost Officer-In-Charge Atty. Antonio Z. De Guzman and Philpost Board Chairman Alfredo G. Gabot to Chairman Uy. A blood-letting activity is also scheduled at the lobby of the Main Post Office Building in Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

Scheduled for November 9 are the awarding ceremonies of the annual Philpost sportsfest at 9:00 a.m.

The opening of the Philatelic Exhibit and launching of the National Stamp Collecting Month featuring National Artists stamps is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. on November 10. Guest Speaker is Ms. Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, Chairperson of Movies and Television Review Classification Board (MTRCB). The Retirees and Senior Citizen Day is also part of the activities on November 10 with Hon. Godofredo V. Arquiza, Representative of the Senior Citizens Party List as guest speaker. Capping the day’s activities is a letter-writing contest entitled “Paligsahan sa Dagliang Pagsulat ng Liham” at 1:30 p.m. at the East Wing Lobby of the Main Post Office Building with KGG. Jose Laderas Santos, Punong Komisyoner ng Komisyon sa Wikang Pilipino, as guest of honor.

The Philippine postal system has a history spanning over 200 years. In 1767, the first post office was established in the city of Manila, which was later organized under a new postal district of Spain, encompassing Manila and the entire Philippine archipelago, in 1779. The postal district was reestablished on December 5, 1837. A year later, Manila became known as a leading center of postal services within Asia. Spain joined the Universal Postal Union in 1875, which was announced in the Philippines two years later.

During the Philippine Revolution, President Emilio Aguinaldo ordered the establishment of a postal service to provide postal services to Filipinos during that time. It was later organized as a bureau under today’s Department of Trade and Industry, then known as the Department of Trade, on September 5, 1902, by virtue of Act No. 426, which was passed by the Philippine Commission. The Philippines eventually joined the Universal Postal Union, this time as a sovereign entity, on January 1, 1922.

While the Manila Central Post Office building, the center of Philippine postal services and the headquarters of the then-Bureau of Posts, was completed in its present-day Neo-Classical style in 1926, it was destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt in 1946, after the war.

With the overhaul of the Philippine bureaucracy in 1987, the Bureau of Posts was renamed the Postal Service Office, or PSO, by virtue of Executive Order No. 125, which was issued by then-President Corazon Aquino on April 13, 1987. It was also that order that placed the PSO under the DOTC. On April 2, 1992, by virtue of Republic Act No. 7354, the PSO became the present-day Philpost. The law also gave it the authority to reopen the then-closed Philippine Postal Savings Bank, which was reopened on July 21, 1994 by then-President Fidel V. Ramos.