Republic of the Philippines - Stamps & Postal History

RP Issues of 2011

 

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2011, May 3.  Wenceslao Vinzons Centennial

Litho Offset.  Amstar Company, Inc.  Perf. 14.

Singles, Sheets of 40  (10 x 4)

   7p   Wenceslao Vinzons Portrait  -  Singles   (97,000)

 

 

First Day Covers:  Manila & Camarines Norte

   



Wenceslao Quinito Vinzons (September 28, 1910 — July 15, 1942)

A Filipino politician and a leader of the armed resistance against the Japanese occupying forces during World War II. Among the first Filipinos to organize the guerrilla resistance after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, he was executed by the Japanese Army.

Within days following the arrival of the Japanese forces in the Philippines, Vinzons began to organize armed resistance in the Bicol region against the invasion army, which had arrived in the region on December 12, 1941. He commandeered all the rice warehouses in Camarines Norte, and ordered the confiscation of explosives used in the province's gold mines for use against the Japanese army.  By December 18, 1941, he would lead a raid against a troop of Japanese soldiers in Basud, Camarines Norte. His guerrilla forces soon grew to around 2,800 strong, and in May 1942, Vinzons would lead these forces to successfully liberate the provincial capital of Daet.  It is said that between December 1941 and May 1942, Vinzon's troops, armed with poisoned arrows among others, were able to kill around 3,000 Japanese soldiers.   As a result, the capture of Vinzons became a prime objective of the Japanese army.

With the help of a former guerrilla-turned-informant, Vinzons was seized by the Japanese military together with his father on July 8, 1942. He refused to pledge allegiance to his captors, and was brought to a garrison in Daet. It was there, on July 15, 1942, that Vinzons was bayoneted to death after refusing one final entreaty to cooperate with the Japanese forces.  Shortly thereafter, his father, wife, sister and two of his children were also executed by the Japanese.

Vinzons was born in the town of Indan, Camarines Norte to Gabino Vinzons and Engracia Quinito. He graduated valedictorian from his local high school, and proceeded to Manila to study at the University of the Philippines.

While at the university, Vinzons gained fame as a student leader. A member of Upsilon Sigma Phi, Vinzons would be elected president of the student council and editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian. He was also known for delivering an oratorical address entitled "Malaysia Irredenta", where he advocated the unification of Southeast Asian nations with a common Malay origin.  The piece won him the Manuel L. Quezon gold medal for excellence.

Vinzons obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1932, and placed 3rd in the bar examinations of the following year. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslao_Vinzons)

 

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Issues of 2011