New currency look in 2025

Following the launch in 2022 of the P1,000 banknote in polymer material, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced last week that it will soon release P500, P100, and P50 bills using the same material.

Aside from their new security features, the new bills will prominently display some of the country’s indigenous fauna and flora.

The polymer P1,000 bill no longer bears the faces of World War II heroes Jose Abad Santos, Vicente Lim, and Josefa Llanes Escoda. Similarly, the P500 bill will cease to carry the faces of the late President Corazon Aquino and her husband, former Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr.

The same adjustment will be made on the faces of former Presidents Manuel Roxas and Sergio Osmeña in the P100 and P50 bills, respectively.

READ: BSP to release less than 100M pieces each of new notes

According to the BSP, the change in motif ”follows a cyclical pattern of selecting design themes,” and the new bills would be in circulation for a longer time.

With that shift, the Philippines joins 40 other countries that use polymer material for their banknotes.

In 2022, the change to polymer from abaca material of the P1,000 bill drew strong opposition from the country’s abaca producers as their product will no longer be used in that currency.

The removal of the faces of historic Filipino personalities in the new bill notes had drawn criticisms from various sectors as, among others, “a slap on the faces of our heroes.”

The change in the P500 bill got some political color because the Aquinos were once the political adversaries of the father of the incumbent president.

The opposition to the displacement of the faces of some Filipinos in the paper notes somehow implies that they would cease to be honored, or worse, forgotten, for their heroic deeds if their images can no longer be seen in our currency.

These critics may have forgotten that statues or memorials had been built for them in recognition of their services to the country, and in some cases, their birthdays are commemorated and declared a nonworking day in their hometown.

Putting their photos in the bill notes is only one of many ways that the country has shown its appreciation and gratitude for their sacrifices to the Filipino people.

READ: Banknotes with PH historical figures to remain in circulation – BSP

If the deletion of their faces from our currency would result to their being forgotten or ignored by the Filipino people, in particular, the youth, then there is much to be worried about the sense of nationalism in our society.

Will our heroes be remembered only as long as they can be seen on paper bills? That’s sad.

Historically, bill notes have been used to reflect and promote the values, cultural heritage, traditions, and achievements, among others, of the country that issues them.

Their content is often influenced by the prevailing political environment and social structure of the country. If, for example, a currency shows vestiges of past colonization, they are removed or replaced with something more attuned to the existing political system.

In other words, the design of bill notes is not set in stone. It changes and evolves with the times.

Additionally, bill notes provide a snapshot of the ideas or things that represent or identify the people on whose behalf those articles of trade and commerce are issued and circulated.

With an eye to minimizing opportunities for counterfeiting, governments go to great lengths and expenses in deciding on what to put in their paper currency because their designs are meant to last for years.

(Incidentally, for visiting foreigners, the pictorial content of bill notes is their initial introduction to their host country.)

Since the photos and names of the fauna and flora that will appear in the new bills would probably be the first time that many Filipinos would read about it, their circulation next year would be educational.

Merry Christmas!

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