The Philippines was the first country in Asia to issue postage stamps. The first set of 4 stamps were issued on
February 1, 1854, 4 years after Spain issued its first stamps, and 14 years after the very first postage stamp in the world was issued by Great Britain. There are 40 varieties of each value, as each stamp in the sheet is individually engraved. A I0c black was printed but never issued, and each value comes in different shades. There is a celebrated error on the 1 real stamp, with "CORREOS" spelled  as "CORROS" on position 26 of each sheet of 40.

"FILIPINAS 2004" will celebrate the 150th anniversary of our first postage stamps. It will be a 3-day event, from
January 30 to February 1, 2004 and will be sponsored by the Philippine Philatelic Federation (PPF), with the support of Philpost. It will be held at the SM Megatrade Hall, 5th Floor, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. This is an invitational, non-competitive exhibition, and 64 frames containing stamps from the first Spanish-Philippine issue through the U.S. Administration issues, Aguinaldo issues, Japanese Occupation issues up to the present Republic issues, will be exhibited. A special show publication including the souvenir program will be launched during the exhibition. It will contain newly researched articles about the first issues that have never been published before, and will include many colored plates of these elusive stamps, in large multiples and on covers too. 3 more FILIPINAS 2004 souvenir sheets (#4-6) will be issued, one each daily, during the show. On the last day of the show (February 1), a new set of 4 stamps and a souvenir sheet will be issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Philippine stamps.

The 3 souvenir sheets and official first day covers will be available starting on their respective first day of issue at the Philatelic Service, Door 203, Liwasang Bonifacio,  1000 Manila and all regional offices of the Philippine Postal Corporation.