Give Us the Dot: The Story Behind the UN80 Commemorative Stamps

Last month, two stamps were launched at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila, marking 80 years since the Philippines signed the United Nations Charter.

Inside the National Museum’s Senate Hall, where Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s Filipino Struggles Through History can be seen, two small canvases were unveiled: two postage stamps no larger than a matchbox. Last June 25, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Postal Corporation launched the commemorative stamps celebrating the Philippines’ 80 years as a founding member of the United Nations. The stamps, titled A Journey of Hope & Endeavor, are a tribute to the country’s commitment to peace, justice, and multilateralism.

Designed by Marthy Angue, who represents the Philippines at the ASEAN Mission in Jakarta, the stamp is designed with dual lenses: his creative vision as a designer and his global perspective as a diplomat.

“How do you capture the last 80 years of global history,” he asked, “and focus them, through a distinctly Filipino lens, into two canvases no bigger than a matchbox?”

His answer: layered geometry and translucent forms, inspired by National Artists like Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Vicente Silva Manansala, Abdulmari Asia Imao, and Arturo Rogerio Luz. Interwoven into the design are cultural textiles, such as banig and the sails of a vinta, as well as patterns that echo okir carvings and tnalak weaves.

“How do you capture the last 80 years of global history and focus them, through a distinctly Filipino lens, into two canvases no bigger than a matchbox?”

At the center of his design is a story that generations of Filipino schoolchildren are familiar with. When the original UN emblem was presented, the Philippines, so small on the map, appeared only as a dot. General Carlos P. Romulo, the first Asian to be elected President of the UN General Assembly, insisted it be included.

“All right, give us the dot,” he said. That small demand, Angue reflects, was no mere matter of scale. It was a statement of sovereignty. It was the Philippines asking not just to be seen, but to be heard.

“Those are the dots,” Angue said in his speech. “Hope like the sun over a war-ravaged world. Endeavor transcending borders. Dynamic as partner. Shining as pathfinder. Soothing as peacemaker.”

The phrase is repeated across the design and messaging of the campaign. For Angue, “the dot” is every nation and every person who might otherwise be overlooked. It is a metaphor for inclusion, for justice, and for the patient, persistent work of diplomacy.

If diplomacy is often cloaked in gray suits and white papers, these stamps offer a different vernacular. “Design is language,” Angue explained in an interview with Vogue Philippines. “It’s how we say something without speaking. Through color, through form. Through intentionality.

In his design, Angue employs translucent overlays and blended shapes, an homage to Manansala’s cubism and the layered harmony of Southeast Asian textiles. The stamps suggest that diplomacy, like weaving, is an art of interconnection. Every motif was chosen not just for the aesthetic value, but for what it says about the Philippine vision of peace: not the absence of conflict, but the presence of life, color, and cooperation despite it.

At the launch, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo reminded the audience that these stamps are more than symbols; they are stories. Stories of a country that helped build the UN Charter. That argued cases before international courts. That stood for women’s rights, for archipelagic states, for human dignity.

While the stamps will circulate globally in mail and collections, Angue hopes they also serve as reminders of the country’s involvement in global governance, and of the importance of being part of the conversation, even when the role is small or easily overlooked.

As he put it: “To endeavor without hope is to wander lost. To hope without endeavor is to let it fade.”