CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The thrill of receiving a love letter – scented and “sealed with a kiss” – have been long buried in the directness of the internet.
Students barely know what a stamp is for or have a totally different notion of the mailbox – pc-embedded in their minds as against the freely standing or hanging steel contraption or yore.
Thus, it is to the thrill of a new discovery that students of the Pampanga High School took to the First National Letter- Writing Day held Wednesday at SM City Pampanga.
Fears of the Philippine postal system going the way of the telegraph system – to extinction, with the last telegram sent on September 30 – were allayed by Assistant Postal Manager Louis Carlos, in his inspirational speech before the students went through the routine of letter-writing, buying and affixing stamps to their letters, and dropping them at the mailbox .
Carlos said the postal system is guaranteed by a United Nations convention where the Philippines is a signatory. To stay with the times, Carlos said they are in the process of “rebranding and developing services in the postal system to make it lean and mean.”
Streamlining operations at the Philpost has resulted to some 7,000 employees spread throughout the country, “willing and able to cope with the postal communication needs of the nation.”
Carlos admitted though the stiff competition Philpost faces from delivery services and postal providers, adding that the Philpost is also embarking on promoting conventional letter writing, improving services and opening the institution to technology and services on e-commerce.
Carlos said Philpost remains a “sunshine industry” despite the current alternatives provided by technology.
Last Wednesday, a sunshine of smilesradiated through the Event Center of SM City Pampanga as students learned the ways of their old folks to communicate love and friendship, thanksgiving and respect, in the most expressive and emotive ways.
