Philippines
Aguinaldo Newspaper Stamp of 1898-1899
According to Melville, the original Aguinaldo "Revolucionario Filipinas" issues
were printed on white paper. Private reprints were on yellowish paper. The
inscription "Impresos" indicates that this is a newspaper stamp.
Emilio Aguinaldo y Farny is recognized in the Philippines as the first president of the independent nation
although his government did not receive international recognition. When the United States failed to support
Philippine independence after the defeat of Spain in May of 1898, Philippine nationalist continued their
struggle for sovereignty. On June 12, 1898, General Aguinaldo declared independence. Although Scott
notes that some of the stamps issued by the nationalists "may have been totally philatelic," F.J. Melville
explains in Phantom Philately that the stamps were issued by a legitimate authority and with a real postal
purpose for at least six months between September 1898 and March 1899.
The stamp displayed above has a second "I" in the word "FILIPINAS" sans-serif and a dash beneath and
between the "n" and "o" in "GOBno." These are characteristics of the genuine stamp according to Varo
E. Tyler in Focus on Forgeries .
As the first president of the Philippines, Aguinaldo was featured
in 1966 in the fourth issue of the Presidential sayings issue.