Monetary Board submits new peso bill designs for GMA approval

MANILA, Philippines - The Monetary Board (MB) has submitted to President Arroyo for her approval the new banknote series that would have advanced security features to prevent counterfeiting.

MB member Ignacio Bunye said the scheduled release of the new banknotes series before the end of this year is “a cause for both excitement and curiosity.”

“Without delving too much into details at this point, it would be safe to report that the new bills will contain very advanced security features so as to make them practically counterfeit proof. Remember that security is the primary reason for the periodic redesign and printing of new bills,” Bunye said.

“The basic colors of the new bills will be preserved to prevent mix-ups and mistakes, especially during night time transactions. So it will be still be orange for P20 bills, red for P50 bills, violet for P100 and so on,” he said.

The figures and denominations on the new bank notes will be larger for easier recognition, he said.

The present size of the bills will be retained for compatibility with ATM machines which are currently being used, Bunye said.

However, he declined to give other details on the new set of peso bills.

He said the New Generation Currency Project has been the subject for considerable discussion in the Numismatic Committee of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) since last year.

The Numismatic Committee, chaired by BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, has exhaustively debated various suggested themes, formats, materials to be used, as well as security features.

“All these features are very important, especially the design, because as Director Fe de la Cruz, head of BSP corporate affairs, aptly points out: ‘We look at currency as a mirror of what our country aspired for’,” he said.

The Numismatic Committee, he said, has already submitted its recommendation to the MB, which has decided to favorably endorse the same to Mrs. Arroyo for final approval.

Bunye said that unless earlier retired because these have become unfit for circulation, the prevent bank notes will remain legal tender for at least three more years.

He said based on the previous demonetization program of the BSP, three years will give enough time for the public to make “a full transition to our new generation currency.”