FOLLOWING the unveiling of the new P5 coin and the New Generation Currency (NGC) banknotes with enhanced designs on Monday, December 18, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has again reminded the public that they only have until December 29 of this year, or eight banking days left, to swap their old peso bills for new ones.
Lawyer Leonides Sumbi, BSP–Central Visayas Regional Office director, said that as of December 15, BSP has already exchanged P20.3 million worth of old peso bills (called the New Design Series or NDS) in Cebu province, and that they expect the figure to double by December 29.
NDS banknotes were issued from 1985 to 1993. It was succeeded by the NGC series issued on December 16, 2010.
During Monday's unveiling of the enhanced NGC banknotes and the new P5 coin, Sumbi has also urged the public to spend their coins and not hoard them to keep them in circulation.
The new P5 coin bears the image of Andres Bonifacio, which replaced the image of General Emilio Aguinaldo; while the enhanced NGC banknotes feature italicized scientific names, bigger font of the year mark, signature of the fourth Governor of the BSP, Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., among others.
Sumbi clarified that despite the release of the enhanced NGC, the public can still use old version NGC banknotes.
The BSP official also said that they "will surely address the confusing new P5 and old P1 by the size and the color."
"Ang inyong feedback tanan will be taken into consideration by management when we do the minting of the NGC P1 (coins),” she said.
The BSP has been working with the barangays to collect low denomination coins such as 25, 10, and 5 centavos.
“We coordinate with the barangay treasurer, the barangay captain and then we give mga incentive if you can give us 100 pesos worth of any of these low denomination coins,” she said.
Commemorative coins will also be awarded to those who can provide P100 worth of any of these coins, which will be melted and reused as raw materials for the minting of new ones.
Sumbi said the new P5 coin and enhanced P20 bill has already been circulated, adding that the supply of other denominations will be distributed to BSP regional offices by January 2018. (Erica Dancel and Reva Hermosa, USC Communications Interns/SunStar Philippines)