Bangko Sentral releases new peso bills on Tuesday

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Tuesday the latest edition of New Generation Currency (NGC) banknotes, saying the peso bills bear the signature of Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. as well as enhanced design features.

The new banknotes are in line with the central bank mandate of preserving the integrity of the Philippine currency which pays for goods and services.

"The enhancements aimed to highlight significant moments in the nation’s history, as well as its world heritage sites and iconic natural wonders," the BSP said.

"The Philippine banknotes remain a constant reminder of the Philippine patriotism and bravery, and centuries of journey for the Filipino people’s better future," it added.

The design enhancements for individual banknotes are as follows:

• P200—Changes in the images in the obverse side of the banknote particularly those depicting the Declaration of Philippine Independence and Opening of the Malolos Congress

• P50—added text to read “Leyte Landing October 1944” from “Leyte Landing”

• P1,000—image of the Order of Lakandula Medal and the phrase “MEDAL OF HONOR” deleted from the obverse side of the banknote

For all the banknotes, including the P20 and P500 bills, changes were made in the format of scientific names are a bigger font size of the year mark was used.

NGC banknotes without the new features will remain legal tender, which means the bills can still be used to pay for goods and services.

The central bank emphasized that the new banknotes now bear the signature of Nestor Espenilla Jr., the fourth governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The NGC banknotes were issued to authorized agent banks from which the general public may withdraw the new peso bills.

The BSP is also considering further enhancements to the NGC banknotes including Braille marks for the visually impaired and other improvements in the security features.

On Nov. 29, the BSP said it will also release this December the P5 New Generation Coin featuring Philippine hero Andres Bonifacio. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News