HERNANDO FRANCISCO
(Philippine Journal of Philately, Mar-April 1960)
CAMBODIAN,
VIETNAM AND LAOTIAN STAMPS ARE HIS MEAT
Among
our few local philatelists who
specialize in collecting stamps of Asian countries is Hernando
Francisco of Manila, who at present, has an accumulation of 600
Cambodian, Vietnam and Laotian issues.
A part from this
most-valued collection of his are stamps from different countries
all over the world which he has amassed, and total no less than
50,000 pieces.
This is not to mention
the 1,000,000 or so stamps that he had gathered since 1936 when he
was but at the age of 10 and were lost during the liberation of
Manila in 1945.
The bulk of this first
collection, however, was comprised of stamps issued in the
Philippines during the Japanese Occupation and paid for in Japanese
"Mickey Mouse" notes which practically every Filipino had a
pocketful.
"Buying stamps in
those days was like buying peanuts," Francisco now recalls with
laughter. "The thickness of my collection was about two feet."
Philately is his only
hobby, and he said he won't trade it "for anything else." He is a
merchant by calling but he devotes a large part of his time to this
hobby by attending stamp auctions, stamp club meetings, and
frequenting sources where he can buy stamps. He is a member of the
Asociacion Filatelica de Filipinas.
One wonders how a man
like him - mountain-sized and seemingly inclined to gymnastics -
would take to such a light and meticulous fad.
But he pointed out:
"There is something in it that is both
distinctive and exhilarating . . . It's not a tedious hobby, it's
clean, light, and, if I may say so, dignified when compared to other
hobbies. And the rewards are great both in terms of pleasure and
money . . ."
What
made him a stamp hobbyist?
It was while he was in the fourth grade at the Ateneo de Manila that
he became addicted to stamps. He explained that the Jesuits Fathers
in that school imposed upon the young students to buy stamps in
order to raise funds for humanitarian
purposes. The fund-raising occurred every year.
Since that time he had
not ceased gathering stamps and turned such activity into a
profit-making and pleasure-giving venture. His collection of
Philippine pre-war stamps was complete in sets and considerably big,
just as his Japanese-issued stamps were phenomenally gigantic in
quantity.
Born in Manila on July
6, 1925, Francisco is married and is the father of three children.
(Note:
Hernando was one of the active stamp
dealers in Manila)
