PHILIPPINES POST OFFICE, after the return of the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, with General MacArthur's return to Leyte, on 20 October 1944. went about its business once President Osmena began organising his government. Much of the task fell upon the Chief of Staff, Carlos P. Romulo and the Commonwealth Treasurer, Andres Soriano.
The re-establishment of the Post Office was a priority because of its long range propaganda potential, and the Bureau of Posts building in Tacloban was selected as the logical site to start from. Pre-occupation stamps (mostly from 1935 issues) were retrieved from storage, some were overprinted "COMMONWEALTH" and some were not.
A simple rubber hand stamping device was made, and the stamps were hand-stamped with the word "VICTORY" in purple. The first of these hand-stamped stamps went on sale in the Tacloban Post Office on 8 November 1944.
After the initial group of overprints went on sale, the Post Office allowed anyone who had per-occupation stamps to bring them in and sell them to the postal authorities. This may account for the large variety of issues overprinted and the limited quantity of some items. Subsequent issues were released on 3, 14 and 28 December 1944. During the early hand-stamping the device was broken and repaired, leaving a slightly different overprint for the later issues. The stamping device in its original condition produced overprints with the letters in a straight line. After the break was repaired the first three letters were not aligned with the rest and the "T" had a "bite" out of the stem. The first type of hand-stamping is much scarcer than the second type of hand-stamping.
Interestingly, during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines these same stamps, bearing the heading UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, was blacked out.
The stamps shown here on this cover contain the censorship rubber stamp and are postmarked Manila, 16 April 1945. Whether the rubber stamping (not the stamps themselves) is a forgery I am uncertain; even that if so, it is still valued among collectors.
Seven of the following overprint VICTORY COMMONWEALTH stamps include:
- Jose Rizal - 2c
- Ox - 4c
- Filipino Worker - 20c
- Filipino maiden - 6c
- Fort Santiago - 10c
- Salt Spring - 12c
- Magellan's Landing - 16c
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