1st Philacon FDC

Here's a first day cover for the Philacon '91 issue (an overprinted 1982 souvenir sheet).

The First National Philatelic Convention (Philacon '91) was held at the Manila Central Post Office from November 27 to 29, 1991.

Cachet at left represents the 10 participating stamp clubs: APO Philatelic Society, Filipino-Chinese Philatelic Society, Baguio Philatelic Society, General Santos City Stamp Club, Cebu Philatelic Society, International Philippine Philatelic Society, Chinese Philatelists' Club of the Philippines, Philippine Philatelic Auction Club, Clark Stamp Club, and Quezon City Philatelic Society.

Philacon '92 postcard

Here is a postcard for Philacon '92, the Second National Philatelic Convention, held at Cebu City from October 22 to 24, 1992.

On the back is a stamp cancelled with a Philacon '92 slogan cancellation dated October 9, 1992, the 15th anniversary of the Philippine Philatelic Auction Club. There are two signatures, most likely PPAC members. One is that of (my guess) Carlos Inductivo (who conducted the "grand auction" of Philacon '91).

The slogan's message is delightsome: Happiness is Collecting Stamps!

Philacon '91 souvenir program

The souvenir program of the First National Philatelic Convention (Philacon '91) with No. 723 of the exhibition sheet on its front page cancelled with a Philatelic Week 1991 issue.

On the first page is detailed information about the souvenir program (1,000 copies) and exhibition sheet (5,000 copies).

The second page contains a message from Eliseo R. Cabangon, chairman of the Philacon '91 Ad Hoc Committee (and president of the Quezon City Philatelic Society). Some excerpts: "It was this love of stamps that prompted several leading stamp clubs in the country to meet in Manila in the afternoon of January 27, 1991, and they jointly conceived the idea of a national stamp convention. Thus was born PHILACON '91..." which "aims to foster interest in stamp collecting among youths and adults, to teach beginners the basics of the hobby, to enhance the philatelic knowledge of advanced collectors, and to encourage the formation of stamp clubs in schools and among out-of-school youths."

Pages 4 and 5 itemize the program of activities.

On Day 1 (November 27), the morning activities were the usual opening ceremonies, and the afternoon activities were lectures (followed by an open forum) and visual shows as follows:

Philately, A Fascinating Hobby by Mandy Labayen, UP professor 
      and Manila Times [philatelic] columnist
Postage Stamp History and Philippine Philately by Frank Luto, 
      Philippines Daily Star [philatelic] columnist
The Video Guide to Stamp Collecting, first viewing
Philippine Postal History slide presentation

On Day 2 (November 28), there were more lectures followed by an open forum in the morning, as follows:

Identifying Stamps
Competitive Stamp Exhibition by Raymond See, assistant business 
      manager of the International Philippine Philatelic Society
Organizing a Stamp Club among the Youths by Alfredo Principe, 
      executive director of QCPS

For the afternoon activities, a lecture-workshop with an open forum followed by the second viewing of the video were held. The former, on The Basics of Stamp Collecting, were conducted by three QCPS governors: Rogelio Tuazon, Estanislao Caldez Jr. and Reynaldo Laurio.

On Day 3 (November 29), before the closing ceremonies held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., there was a lecture on Auction, A Vital Component of Philately followed by an open forum, and two actual auctions: first for junior collectors with Ysmael E. A. Inductivo, secretary of the Philippine Philatelic Auction Club, as auctioneer, and second was the IPPS International Auction with Abraham Luspo as auctioneer.

Other convention activities were the following:

1. Raffles held "several times a day for three days".
2. A noncompetitive exhibit mounted by participating clubs.
3. Club lounge for "those who wish to buy copies of the exhibition sheet and the souvenir program or to apply for membership to any of the participating stamp clubs" (listed on Page 6).
4. "PHILACON '91 grand auction" at the home of Carlos Inductivo, PHILACON '91 vice-chairman and president of the PPAC, on December 1.

Pages 7 and 8 listed sponsors and donors.

I wasn't there. Were you?

Philacon '91

The First National Philatelic Convention (PHILACON '91) was held at the Manila Central Post Office from November 27 to 29, 1991.

There were 10 participating stamp clubs: APO Philatelic Society, Baguio Philatelic Society, Cebu Philatelic Society, Chinese Philatelists' Club of the Philippines, Clark Stamp Club, Filipino-Chinese Philatelic Society, General Santos City Stamp Club, International Philippine Philatelic Society, Philippine Philatelic Auction Club, and Quezon City Philatelic Society.

Shown above is the exhibition sheet on a cover of the Cebu Philatelic Society with its seal and a San Juan de la Cruz stamp cancelled by the Cebu City Post Office.

The sheet was issued earlier on October 20 by the Philacon committee (hence, it's marked Not Valid for Postage) to help raise funds for the convention.