Philippine Error Stamps – 1982 Rotary Awards

Updated and republished 19th March 2023 after adding another variety to my collection.

Initially released on 5th May 1982, this set of 2x stamps commemorating the Rotary Tower Awards was quickly found to have a spelling mistake. At the bottom of the stamp under the “TOWER AWARDS” text is a block of text reading “Bantayog ng Kaunlaran ng Mangagawa”. Translated this means “Worker’s Progress Monument”. The error? “Mangagawa” should have been spelled as “Manggagawa” (3x G’s in total).

A second printing was ordered and later released on 8th November 1982. The second printing obviously addressed the spelling mistake but also fixed another issue with the original stamp. It was very difficult to read the small white text on the colored background of the initial release. The new release was changed to include a white block at the bottom of the stamps and a change of text color to make the writing stand out more.

You may see these listed as Type I and Type II in some catalogs while others will ignore the error stamp altogether.

I’ve also seen some other error varieties of this stamp (but do not have these in my collection):

• 40c with brown writing instead of green for the text starting with “Bantayog ng…….” (using the corrected spelling from Type II).
• Missing text “Bantayog ng…….” in the lower white area altogether (has the lower white block as per Type II though but with no text).

Here’s another interesting one that recently found its way into my collection – a darker shade of brown text at the bottom and thinner, crisper font (shown on the left). I do not believe this to be an error, maybe a 3rd reprinting?

Leave a comment if you’ve seen other major error varieties.

Thanks for reading, happy hunting and have fun with your collection!