PHLPost to launch first 21-karat gold ink souvenir sheet for Kaplag

Stamp collectors can commemorate the 450th Kaplag in Cebu with a 3D-embossed souvenir sheet made with 21-karat gold ink.

The Philippine Postal Corp. will issue the souvenir sheet in time for the occasion that kicked off this weekend, GMA News' Tina Panganiban-Perez tweeted.

A photo of the souvenir sheet showed the image of the Christ Child with the caption "450 Years of finding the image of the Santo Niño."

.@Ppostofficial to launch 1st ever 21K gold ink 3D embossed souvenir sheet for the 450th Kaplag anniv. | @tinapperez pic.twitter.com/PqrDuOjAPa

— GMA News (@gmanews) April 19, 2015

It indicated the souvenir sheet—PHLPost's first 21K gold ink 3D-embossed—will have a P200 denomination.

On Saturday, devotees took part in a Traslacion from the Basilica de Santo Niño to the Redemptorist Church.

They then took part in a predawn penitential walk back to the basilica on Sunday.

GMA Cebu's Chona Carreon posted a video of the devotees cheering their patron after the walk.

After Sunday's penitential walk, masses and novenas will be held for Kaplag, which will last until April 28.

The Basilica de Santo Niño website said the Santo Niño icon of Cebu is recognized as the oldest religious relic in the Philippines, its origin dating to the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

While the Santo Niño image was given to Queen Juana, the Christian faith did not immediately flourish in the Philippines due to Magellan's death in battle.

Some 44 years later—on April 28, 1565, the Legazpi-Urdaneta Expedition arrived in Cebu and discovered (pagkakaplag) the same wooden image in a partially scorched hut. — BM, GMA News