Indispensable Rizal coins

Today we commemorate the 128th death anniversary of our country’s national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal. It is traditionally observed in a solemn ritual of raising the gigantic Philippine flag in front of his monument in Luneta. Rizal earned this rightful stature in our country’s history. Refusing to be blindfolded, he gallantly faced death by musketry in Bagumbayan – now renamed after our national hero. 

Rizal was shot to death at the exact spot where his monument stands at the most popular park in Manila. It’s a strange tradition that we have a national holiday and formal observance on the killing of our national hero. But there is none for Rizal’s birth anniversary. Rizal’s memories and outstanding works have been immortalized many times over, not only in the Philippines. 

A well-traveled man during his lifetime, Rizal left many footprints in the countries where he went to. This brings to mind how the late president Fidel V. Ramos (PFVR) included in his itineraries in state visits and official foreign trips during his term several sites of the well-documented travels of Rizal. PFVR was also known for his peripatetic globe-trotting while in office at Malacañang Palace. 

Sent by The STAR to cover the presidential travels abroad, PFVR took us during his state visit in the United Kingdom to pay respect at Rizal’s small one-room apartment in London preserved by the British government in honor of our national hero. When he went to the former Czechoslovakia, PFVR included a side trip to memorial grounds in Prague where Rizal’s bust sticks out of one of the white walls. 

According to local and foreign historians, Rizal’s trips would be like looking at a world map in the 13 countries from Europe to Asia such as Spain, Germany, France to Hong Kong where he had set foot from 1882 to 1887.  

Thus, don’t be surprised to find or stumble into some of Rizal’s mementos displayed or exhibited abroad. 

 We are not lacking though in honoring in so many other ways the heroism of Rizal. The likeness of his face being engraved on the one peso coin that is the most widely circulated here in our country. Though used for loose change, Rizal’s one peso coins are in every Filipino’s wallet and hand.               

Fortunately, Rizal and some of his fellow Philippine heroes are not among those killed anew in a “massacre” of sorts after our country’s monetary authorities decided to shift from paper bills to polymer banknotes. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) first introduced the P1,000 polymer notes in April 2022. The Philippine Eagle replaced the portraits of three World War II heroes – Josefa Llanes Escoda, Vicente Lim and Jose Abad Santos – on its obverse side. Our national bird is paired with the sampaguita, our national flower.

This initially raised bitter criticisms when first released by the BSP headed by then governor Benjamin Diokno  during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte. After the initial pushback, Filipinos gradually embraced the advantage of the P1,000 polymer notes. Diokno was eventually vindicated. Incidentally, Diokno’s favorite animal is the Philippine Eagle while his favorite national hero is fellow Batangueño, Apolinario Mabini.

The P1,000 polymer banknote was later awarded “Banknote of the Year” by global non-profit organization International Banknote Society in 2023. Now as one of the Monetary Board (MB) members of the BSP, this award strengthened Diokno’s resolve in sustaining the shift to polymer banknotes to eventually to cover other Philippine peso denominations.

Last Dec.19, the BSP presented to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) the First Philippine Polymer Banknote (FPP) Series, featuring new banknote designs for the P500, P100 and P50 bills. The new polymer banknotes include the P500 with the Visayan spotted deer, the P100 with the Palawan peacock-pheasant and the P50 showcasing the Visayan leopard cat. 

BSP Gov. Eli Remolona announced the new polymer banknote denominations are set to enter into circulation in the first quarter of 2025 yet. The BSP started releasing the first batches last week, currently available in limited quantities in Metro Manila. Remolona assuaged the public concern and said the paper banknotes will still remain in circulation. 

Although already decided as early as 2022, the BSP’s implementing the new, lower denominated polymers banknotes is under fire anew. This time, the country’s chief monetary policy-making body is accused of being a party to the present administration’s alleged “revisionism,” or changing the historical narratives. 

In particular, arch critics point to the replacement of the portraits of the late president Corazon Aquino, her slain husband ex-Sen.Benigno Aquino Jr. and their only son, the late president Benigno Simeon “PNoy” Aquino III in the present P500 paper banknote.

The BSP, as created in our country’s 1987 Constitution, is an independent, autonomous monetary body. Nonetheless, the BSP is subject to the review of another independent, autonomous body called the Commission on Audit (COA). Based on the BSP’s financial statement for 2023 as submitted to COA, the Remolona-headed MB had approved the award of P4.9 billion total worth of five contracts for the supply of materials and the actual production of polymer bills in P1,000, P500, P100 and P50 denominations, under the so-called “New Generation Currency Banknotes” project.

From its submissions, the COA did not find any questionable transactions in the bid award for the production of the Philippine polymer banknotes. The contracts were won by three separate entities, namely, one French company, a German firm and a British contractor.

In obvious response to the latest criticisms against the new polymer banknotes, the BSP reported a significant decrease in counterfeit banknotes since its release in our local currencies. In an official statement, the BSP revealed only one fake P1,000 polymer note was detected per 82 million pieces now in circulation in our money supply two years after its introduction. This compares to the one per 19,000 counterfeit rate recorded for the older paper-based notes.

The BSP said these counterfeits were “of low quality, as their elements poorly matched the advanced security features of polymer banknotes.” 

Even with these polymer banknotes, the Rizal coins remain indispensable.