A sunburned grain Stamps of approval Pockets of gold in ... - adron.sr

Stamps ofAPPROVALby Gene HettelIn honor of the 50th anniversary ofthe International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI), which is based inthe Philippines, the Philippine PostalCorporation (PPC) has issued a set offour stamps celebrating the Institute’simportant work in rice research for theworld—much of it done in IRRI’s hostcountry.The four stamps were officiallyreleased by Philippine PostmasterGeneral Diomedio P. Villanueva in aspecial first-day issue ceremony at IRRI’sheadquarters in LosBaños on 14 April 2010,a date that coincideswith IRRI’s officialbirthday as this is whenthe Board of Trusteesfirst met back in 1960.Accordingto Elenita D.L.San Diego, actingmanager of the PPC’sPostal and PhilatelicDepartment, the PPCreceives, on average,around 50 requestseach year to producecommemorative stamps for variouscauses, subjects, events, and avariety of organization and celebrityanniversaries, but only around 20–30can be produced annually. Some of themost recent Philippine stamps featurePhilippine marine biodiversity, 90 yearsof Philippine Rotary Club activities, the77th birth anniversary of the late formerPhilippine president Corazon C. Aquino,and now, IRRI’s50th anniversary.“We were onlygoing to recommendone design to thePPC,” said MichaelJackson, IRRI’sformer directorfor ProgramPlanning andCommunications.“However, ourdesigner came upwith so many great studies that we sentfour different renderings, all of whichwere accepted by the PPC!”The stamps’ designer, Juan V.Lazaro IV, is a self-taught artist whofirst joined IRRI in 1980 as a laborer inthe Plant Pathology Division, workingin the field, greenhouse, and laboratory.Now head of the Creative ServicesSection of IRRI’s CommunicationCPS HEAD Gene Hettel, Mr. Lazaro, and Dr. Jackson discuss various stamp design possibilities and thenMr. Lazaro gets down to finalizing the four designs submitted to the PPC.and Publications Services (CPS) andart director of Rice Today, Mr. Lazarodescribed the elements in the fourstamps.“In the first stamp, I incorporatedan illustration of women transplantingrice—depicted as an element in IRRI’soriginal seal and logo introduced in1961,” he said. “The second stampincorporates a recent aerial photo ofthe 252-hectare facility located on themain campus of the University of thePhilippines at Los Baños, 60 kilometerssouth of Manila. Thethird stamp featuresa recent photo takenin the IRRI fieldplots and the fourthstamp depicts arepresentative verdantpanicle of a highyieldingrice varietydeveloped by IRRIscientists.”This is not thefirst time the PPC hasrecognized IRRI with“stamps of approval.”A two-stamp set(above left) was issued on 27 May 1985to coincide with IRRI’s 25th anniversaryevents.Stamp collectors and hobbyists canorder a souvenir folder, which featuresthe four-stamp set and the official firstdaycover on a special envelope with acancellation postmark dated 14 April2010, by contacting IRRI’s RiceworldBookstore at RiceworldBookstore@cgiar.org. The cost isUS$15 per set whilesupplies last.To view an8-minute YouTubevideo showingIRRI’s rich historyin a montage ofstill photos and therelated developmentof the stamps, go tohttp://snipurl.com/uvbkg.Rice Today April-June 201041