New peso bills launched in Dagupan
THE New Generation Philippine Banknotes (NGPB) was formally launched in Dagupan City on May 3 in a meeting called by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) branch and attended by bankers, pawnshop owners, traders, members of the transport cooperatives and the media.
Launched were the newly printed NGPB in denominations of P20, P50, P100, P200, P500 and P1,000 that all bear the signature of President Benigno S. Aquino III and BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr.
Beta Cervantes, deputy director of the BSP Dagupan Branch, said these banks notes are “beautiful, colorful, malinis (clean) and sturdy”, being 20 per cent cotton, fortified with abaca.
The NGPB bills, she added, have features that cannot be easily copied by counterfeiters.
Loida Cruz, chief of the BSP security printing division, explained that the new banknotes are embossed-printed, provided with watermarks, have security thread, security fiber, asymmetric number, see-through marks, concealed value, optical valuable ink and optical variable device patch.
It can also be distinguished through its micro-printing and florescent features.
The BSP is offering rewards to those who report any person or groups engaged in counterfeiting banknotes.
OLD BILLS
Cruz clarified that while the NGPB is already in circulation, the New Design Series (NDS) of the same denominations that bear the signature of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo remain as good legal tender anywhere in the Philippines until these are demonetized like their predecessors, the Bagong Lipunan Series.
Bills that bear the signature of the late President Corazon C. Aquino are also still legal tender.
Cruz also stressed that the P5 and P10 denominations of the NDS remain as legal tender, belying claims that it is no longer accepted by jeepney drivers and vendors.
She said the two banknotes have expected life spans of five to 10 years but actually last for only eight 18 months.
At the same time, BSP denied that there is a shortage of coins in the country, pointing out that there are P18 billion coins currently in circulation.
The BSP officials said the problem is not on the supply of coins but its re-circulation by users.—LM
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