P1-K bills with WW2 heroes to stay in circulation: Palace

MANILA – Amid criticism over the removal of the portraits of three Filipino World War II heroes from the design of the new PHP1,000 banknote, Malacañang on Tuesday assured the old bills would remain in circulation.

Citing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), acting Presidential Spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said the new PHP1,000 banknotes that feature the Philippine eagle would only be released as part of a test for its possible adoption.

“Hindi po ma-demonetize ang ating (We will not demonetize the) PHP1,000 bills featuring our three national heroes and martyrs. Ito lamang ay iyong featuring iyong Philippine eagle ay for test circulation lamang po to test the polymer material (The banknotes featuring the Philippine eagle is for test circulation only to test the polymer material),” Nograles said in a Palace press briefing.

The BSP earlier said the issuance of the polymer PHP1,000 bills is part of their efforts to ensure that banknotes are more hygienic, sustainable, durable, and cost-effective.

“Itong bagong PHP1,000 bill featuring iyong Philippine eagle po, iyan po ay iyong polymer series po natin na ginagawa naman po ng BSP as a test circulation din para malaman natin at ma-validate po natin kung totoo nga iyong polymer is more hygienic, more environmentally friendly, and more secure kaysa sa mga dati nating ginagamit na materials for our peso bills (This new PHP1,000 bill featuring the Philippine eagle is part of the polymer series as test circulation to find out and validate if it’s true that polymer is more hygienic, more environmentally friendly, and more secure compared to the old materials we use for our peso bills),” he added.

Currently, Philippine banknotes are made of 80 percent cotton and 20 percent abaca.

Nograles said the new PHP1,000 banknote would have more sophisticated security features.

“According to BSP, they say it’s cyclical ang pagpi-feature ng different banknotes (featuring these banknotes is cyclical), number one. Number two, again apart from validating the advantages, the so-called advantages ng polymer, it also will help them in terms of ensuring na mas secure ang ganitong klaseng banknote (that this type of banknotes is more secure),” he said.

Nograles also said using polymer would help prevent the circulation of counterfeit money.

“Although, maraming security features naman presently ang ating PHP1,000 bills kaya hindi agad at madaling pekein ang PHP1,000 (Although our present PHP1,000 bills already have many security features), the BSP is constantly developing ways and means to ensure that hindi mapipeke ang bill na ito (this bill cannot be faked), especially since it is our highest denomination,” he added.

The first batch of polymer PHP1,000 banknotes would be delivered in April 2022.

The BSP has tapped the Reserve Bank of Australia and its wholly-owned subsidiary Note Printing Australia for the production of the polymer banknotes.

Various groups have opposed the plans to shift to polymer from abaca fiber, noting that this move threatened the livelihood of abaca farmers.