CEBU CITY – The prevalence of cellular phones and the Internet, among other instant messaging tools, along with the recent financial crisis has affected operations of the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost).

Jocelyn Agravante, Philpost 7 1st District Manager said that as the economic crisis badly hit the business sector especially exports, the agency has also seen a decrease in international mail.

“The bulk of our international mail significantly went down after the crisis hit the country, as exporters are our huge clients in this service,” she said.

However, Agravante pointed out that despite this problem, Philpost 7 has ventured into certain initiatives meant to improve its income.

Benito Quiros, Postal District Manager of District II , which covers Cebu’s northern part including the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, also said that since Central Visayas is among the top performing regions, it is expected to hit its goal for this year.

“In my district alone, we had already reached 98 percent of our target as of September,” he said, adding that “other districts are also making moves to increase their income.”

He added that despite the presence of technology where people can now directly send e-mails or text messages in a very fast way, Philpost is also in the process of creating various options to sustain and augment its income.