New Peso Bills To Begin Circulating In December

[Mr Lee]

MANILA, Philippines - Peso bills sporting new designs will begin circulating by December, while coins will follow suit two years after, the central bank said. In a primer on its "new generation currency program, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the new bills and coins will not just sport fresh designs, but also feature new security features to make the detection of fake money easier. "As a matter of practice, central banks regularly change the designs of their money -- whether coins or banknotes -- to guard against counterfeiters. By making it very difficult and costly for counterfeiters to produce exact copies of our money, we protect the integrity of our currency against criminals," it said. The central bank is changing the designs of the 20-peso, 50-peso, 100-peso, 200-peso, 500-peso and 1,000-peso banknotes as well as of the one-centavo, five-centavo, 10-centavo, 25-centavo, one-peso, five-peso and 10-peso coins. The BSP said the old peso bills will remain in circulation three years after the new ones are introduced but will be phased out after. "Based on previous currency retirement or demonetization program of the BSP, this will give enough time for the public to make a full transition to our new generation currency. A separate schedule will be followed for coins," the BSP said. The BSP said the new bills will feature historically important Filipinos, heritage sites and natural wonders, while the new coins will sport national symbols. Monetary officials said last August that the image of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino will be included in the P500 bill, which already features martyred husband Benigno Jr.