EVOLUTION OF PHILIPPINE MONEY

BY: TR. DIANE

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HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE MONEY•PHILIPPINE MONEY–MULTI-COLORED THREADS WOVEN INTO

THE FABRIC OF OUR SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE. FROM ITS EARLY BEAD-LIKE FORM TO THE PAPER NOTES AND COINS THAT WE KNOW TODAY, OUR MONEY HAS BEEN A CONSTANT REMINDER OF OUR JOURNEY THROUGH CENTURIES AS A PEOPLE RELATING WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH OTHER PEOPLES OF THE WORLD.

PRE-HISPANIC ERA• TRADE AMONG THE EARLY FILIPINOS AND WITH

TRADERS FROM THE NEIGHBORING ISLANDS WAS CONDUCTED THROUGH BARTER. • THE INCONVENIENCE OF BARTER LATER LED

TO THE USE OF SOME OBJECTS AS MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. GOLD, WHICH WAS PLENTIFUL IN MANY PARTS OF THE ISLANDS, INVARIABLY FOUND ITS WAY INTO THESE OBJECTS THAT INCLUDED THE PILONCITOS, SMALL BEAD-LIKEB GOLD BITS CONSIDERED BY THE LOCAL NUMISMATISTS AS THE EARLIEST COIN OF THE ANCIENT FILIPINOS, AND GOLD BARTER RINGS.

SPANISH ERA (1521-1897)• THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF SPANISH RULE

LEFT MANY INDELIBLE IMPRINTS ON PHILIPPINE NUMISMATICS. AT THE END OF THE SPANISH REGIME, PHILIPPINE MONEY WAS A MULTIPLICITY OF CURRENCIES THAT INCLUDED MEXICAN PESOS, ALFONSINO PESOS AND COPPER COINS OF OTHER CURRENCIES.

•THE FIRST SPANISH COIN USED IN OUR COUNTRY BORE THE FACE OF QUEEN ISABELA OF SPAIN. THE BRONZE COIN WITH LITTLE KNOWN VALUE WAS KNOWN HILIS KAMAY.

•THE BARILLA, A CRUDE BRONZE OR COPPER COIN WORTH ABOUT ONE CENTAVO, WAS THE FIRST COIN STRUCK IN THE COUNTRY.•THE SILVER DOS MUNDOS OR PILLAR DOLLAR IS

CONSIDERED ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL COINS. •THE COBS OR MACUQUINAS OF COLONIAL MINTS WERE

THE EARLIEST COINS BROUGHT IN BY THE GALLEONS FROM MEXICO AND OTHER SPANISH COLONIES.

•COINS FROM OTHER SPANISH COLONIES ALSO REACHED THE PHILIPPINES AND WERE COUNTERSTAMPED. GOLD COINS WITH THE PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ISABELA WERE MINTED IN MANILA. •SILVER PESOS WITH THE PROFILE OF YOUNG ALFONSO XIII WERE THE LAST COINS MINTED IN SPAIN. THE PESOS FUERTES, ISSUED BY THE COUNTRY’S FIRST BANK, THE EL BANCO ESPANOL FILIPINO DE ISABEL II, WERE THE FIRST PAPER MONEY CIRCULATED IN THE COUNTRY.

REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (1898-1899)•ASSERTING ITS

INDEPENDENCE, THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC OF 1898 UNDER GENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO ISSUED ITS OWN COINS AND PAPER CURRENCY BACKED BY THE COUNTRY’S NATURAL RESOURCES.

•ONE PESO AND FIVE PESO NOTES PRINTED AS REPUBLIKA FILIPINA PAPEL MONEDA DE UN PESO AND CINCO PESOS WERE FREELY CIRCULATED. 2 CENTIMOS DE PESO COPPER WERE ALSO ISSUED IN 1899.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD (1900-1941)• THE AMERICANS INSTITUTED A MONETARY

SYSTEM FOR THE PHILIPPINE BASED ON GOLD AND PEGGED THE PHILIPPINE PESO TO THE AMERICAN DOLLAR AT THE RATIO OF 2:1. THE US CONGRESS APPROVED THE COINAGE ACT FOR THE PHILIPPINES IN 1903.

• THE COINS ISSUED UNDER THE SYSTEM BORE THE DESIGNS OF FILIPINO ENGRAVER AND ARTIST, MELECIO FIGUEROA. • COINS IN DENOMINATION OF ONE-HALF CENTAVO TO ONE PESO WERE

MINTED. THE RENAMING OF EL BANCO ESPANOL FILIPINO TO BANK OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IN 1912 PAVED THE WAY FOR THE USE OF ENGLISH FROM SPANISH IN ALL NOTES AND COINS ISSUED UP TO 1933. • BEGINNING MAY 1918, TREASURY CERTIFICATES REPLACED THE SILVER

CERTIFICATES SERIES, AND A ONE-PESO NOTE WAS ADDED.

THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION (1942-1945)

• THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II CAUSED SERIOUS DISTURBANCES IN THE PHILIPPINE MONETARY SYSTEM. TWO KINDS OF NOTES CIRCULATED IN THE COUNTRY DURING THIS PERIOD. • THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION FORCES ISSUED WAR NOTES IN

BIG DENOMINATIONS. PROVINCES AND MUNICIPALITIES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ISSUED THEIR OWN GUERRILLA NOTES OR RESISTANCE CURRENCIES, MOST OF WHICH WERE SANCTIONED BY THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT IN-EXILE, AND PARTIALLY REDEEMED AFTER THE WAR.

THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC•A NATION IN COMMAND OF ITS DESTINY IS THE MESSAGE

REFLECTED IN THE EVOLUTION OF PHILIPPINE MONEY UNDER THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC. HAVING GAINED INDEPENDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES FOLLOWING THE END OF WORLD WAR II, THE COUNTRY USED AS CURRENCY OLD TREASURY CERTIFICATES OVERPRINTED WITH THE WORD “VICTORY”.

•WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES IN 1949, THE FIRST CURRENCIES ISSUED WERE THE ENGLISH SERIES NOTES PRINTED BY THE THOMAS DE LA RUE & CO., LTD. IN ENGLAND AND THE COINS MINTED AT THE US BUREAU OF MINT. • THE FILIPINAZATION OF THE REPUBLIC COINS AND PAPER MONEY BEGAN IN

THE LATE 60’S AND IS CARRIED THROUGH TO THE PRESENT. IN THE 70’S, THE ANG BAGONG LIPUNAN (ABL) SERIES NOTES WERE CIRCULATED, WHICH WERE PRINTED AT THE SECURITY PRINTING PLANT STARTING 1978. •A NEW WAVE OF CHANGE SWEPT THROUGH THE PHILIPPINE COINAGE

SYSTEM WITH THE FLORA AND FAUNA COINS INITIALLY ISSUED IN 1983. THESE SERIES FEATURED NATIONAL HEROES AND SPECIES OF FLORA AND FAUNA. THE NEW DESIGN SERIES OF BANKNOTES ISSUED IN 1985 REPLACED THE ABL SERIES. TEN YEARS LATER, A NEW SET OF COINS AND NOTES WERE ISSUED CARRYING THE LOGO OF THE BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS.

VICTORY SERIES

ENGLISH SERIES(QUIRINO ERA)•

BAGONG LIPUNAN SERIES (MARCOS ERA)

NEW DESIGN SERIES (CORY AQUINO ERA)

NEW GENERATION SERIES

• MALACAÑAN PALACE CAN BE SEEN AT THE FRONT SIDE OF ₱20 BILL, TOGETHER WITH MANUEL L. QUEZON (THE SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES) AND THE DECLARATION OF FILIPINO AS THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

• THE BANAUE RICE TERRACES CAN BE SEEN AT THE BACK OF ₱20 BILL, TOGETHER WITH PARADOXURUS HERMAPHRODITUS PHILIPPINENSIS OR PALM CIVET (MUSANG OR ALAMID IN THE PHILIPPINES) AND CORDILLERAS WEAVE DESIGN.

• THE LEYTE LANDING MEMORIAL PARK CAN BE SEEN AT THE FACE OF ₱50 BILL, TOGETHER WITH SERGIO OSMEÑA (THE FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES) AND THE FIRST PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY.

• TAAL LAKE AND TAAL VOLCANO CAN BE SEEN AT THE REVERSE SIDE OF ₱50 BILL ALONG WITH CARANX IGNOBILIS OR MALIPUTO (A LARGE TYPE OF FISHES INHABITING TAAL LAKE), AND BATANGAS EMBROIDERY DESIGN.

• ALTHOUGH THE INDEPENDENCE GRANDSTAND DOES NOT ALREADY EXIST IN ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION, THE DECLARATION OF THE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE IN 1946 AS SHOWN IN THE FRONT SIDE OF ₱100 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS HELD IN LUNETA. ALONG WITH THE DECLARATION OF THE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE, ARE MANUEL A. ROXAS (THE FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES) AND THE OLD BSP BUILDING IN INTRAMUROS.

• MAYON VOLCANO CAN BE SEEN AT THE BACK OF ₱100 BILL, ALONG WITH A RHINCODON TYPUS (WHALE SHARK OR BUTANDING), AND BICOL TEXTILE DESIGN.

• THE IMAGES OF AGUINALDO SHRINE IN CAVITE AND BARASOAIN CHURCH IN BULACAN ARE BOTH SHOWN AT THE FACE OF ₱200 BILL, ALONG WITH DIOSDADO P. MACAPAGAL (THE NINTH PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES) AND THE EDSA PEOPLE POWER IN 2001.

• THE CHOCOLATE HILLS IN BOHOL CAN BE SEEN AT THE REVERSE SIDE OF ₱200 BILL, ALONG WITH THE PHILIPPINE TARSIER, AND VISAYAS WEAVE DESIGN.

• THE MONUMENT OF NINOY CAN BE SEEN AT THE FRONT SIDE OF ₱500 BILL, TOGETHER WITH HIS WIFE AND FORMER PRESIDENT CORAZON C. AQUINO, AND THE EDSA PEOPLE POWER OF 1986.

• THE PUERTO PRINCESA SUBTERRANEAN UNDERGROUND RIVER CAN BE SEEN AT THE BACK SIDE OF ₱500 BILL, ALONG WITH THE BLUE-NAPED PARROT (TANYGNATHUS LUCIONENSIS) AND THE CLOTH DESIGN IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES.

• PHILIPPINE 1,000 PESO BILL: WAR HEROES: JOSEFA LLANES ESCODA, JOSE ABAD SANTOS AND VICENTE LIM * CENTENNIAL OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE 1998 * MEDAL OF HONOR * SEAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

• TUBBATAHA REEFS NATURAL PARK CAN BE SEEN AT THE REVERSE SIDE OF ₱1,000 BILL, ALONG WITH THE SOUTH SEA PEARL (PINCTADA MAXIMA) AND THE MINDANAO DESIGN FOR TINALAK OR IKAT-DYED ABACA.