Banknote backstories

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) should have rolled out the new polymer notes last November, if only to gauge acceptance or resistance to this usual “aguinaldo” on Christmas.

The last major revamp of Philippine banknotes was in 2010 with the so-called “New Generation” series that simply enhanced the color scheme by making the bills brighter, and I think closer in tone to the Euro. All the historical people on the notes were from the old series but were made to look younger. Remember that the postwar peso bills were dominated by 19th-century heroes of the Philippine Revolution, with the notable exception of two presidents: Quezon and Roxas. Six decades later, in tune with the times, the New Generation Currency was dominated by presidents rather than textbook heroes: Quezon, Osmeña, Roxas, Macapagal, Aquino. The notable exception is the P1,000 bill with the three martyrs of the Japanese Occupation.

If you can see where this is going, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have politicians on future banknotes, particularly those who forget that they were elected to serve the public. If this comes to pass, I would rather have flora and fauna on banknotes rather than politicians. Why not balimbing, ampalaya, buwaya, buwitre, and ahas for a change?

We can argue against the current flora and fauna series all we want but once issued, we are stuck with them for at least 10 years before a change can be made. This may be why the United States dollars are the simplest. Dollar bills are predominantly green, with the exception of the $100 that, being the most counterfeited, comes in a different shade and carries a lot of security features like holograms and other features only visible to trained bank and counterfeit personnel. Historical figures on US banknotes from George Washington on the “single” or $1, to Benjamin Franklin on $100 have been there a long time as dictated by the Federal Reserve Board and not the public that uses them.

I seem to be in the minority who feel sad to see the P200 bill quietly disappear from circulation. From the time it was first issued in 2002, it was rejected by the public. My bank branch seldom has them in stock and I have to make a special order for crisp P200 bills for daily use. I like these because it was a sweet spot between P100 and P500 denominations. Color-wise, it was green compared to the P100 and P1,000 notes that had similar colors and confused people when these were first released. I never understood the problem because people should not judge bills by their color but by the numbers and letters on them. Besides, how can you mistake a P1,000 bill with three heads for the P100 with only one head?

While placing P200 notes in aguinaldo envelopes, I noticed that these were all signed by President Duterte. Since I have not seen any P200 note signed by President Marcos, I have a feeling this would be phased out. The P200 banknote was first issued in 2002 following people power 2, during the term of president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. This should explain why Diosdado Macapagal, her father, was chosen to grace the P200 note instead of Laurel, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada who had never been on the face of a circulating banknote.

Ramos and Estrada did appear on a P2,000 note commemorating the 1998 Philippine Centennial. This was not circulated and used even if it was legal tender. After Estrada was deposed in 2002, most of these P2,000 notes were removed from the Bangko Sentral inventory except for a few for numismatic collectors.

In 2021, the 500th anniversary of the Magellan expedition’s circumnavigation of the world, the BSP issued a brown P5,000 banknote depicting Lapulapu and the Battle of Mactan. If you can find one, the highest denominated Philippine banknote has a face value of P100,000 and was issued during the 1998 Philippine Centennial. The banknote commemorated the 1896 Cry of Pugad Lawin (Balintawak?) and the declaration of Philippine Independence in Kawit on June 12, 1898.

The reverse of the first P200 banknote depicts Arroyo taking her oath as president. We had father on the front and daughter on the reverse, which raised a few eyebrows. In 2010, Macapagal remained on the P200, while Mrs. Arroyo was replaced by, of all things, a tarsier! Other choices as replacement in that banknote series could have been a pearl, a whale, a fish, a parrot, or a civet cat.

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, banknotes are like the calling card of a country. These are distinct and form part of nation branding. You see Mahatma Gandhi, you think India; you see Mao Zedong, you think China. Kings of England, Brunei, Thailand, and other nations on banknotes represent their countries to the world.

The BSP may have scrimped on history in this series but on a small piece of paper, it has packed a lot about Philippine flora and fauna that the ordinary Filipino does not even know about. What are the backstories on the choice of images on our new banknotes? What new stories will we read from these in 2025? These are topics for future columns.

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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu