Filipinos who love collecting new peso denominations, beware!
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has recently issued an advisory informing the public that it has not yet released a 150-Piso denomination banknote featuring the country’s national hero.
“The (Philippine central bank) has not released a 150-Piso denomination banknote featuring Dr. Jose P. Rizal,” the BSP said in its advisory.
Images of the said banknote now circulating on social media, according to the BSP, “are fictitious.”
“The public is hereby advised to always check the legitimacy of information found on social media and other channels regarding Philippine banknotes and coins,” it further stated.
Only 5 banknotes are officially in circulation in PH
According to the BSP, there are only five banknotes officially in circulation in the Philippines. These are the P50, P100, P200, P500 and P1,000.
Only since April 2022 has a polymer version of the P1,000 been added to the circulation.
To verify, visit the Notes and Coins section of the BSP’s official website www.bsp.gov.ph.
The central bank encourages the public to report persons involved in the manufacture and/or distribution of counterfeit Philippine currency to the BSP Payments and Currency Investigation Group.
The report may be sent via email at pcig@bsp.gov.ph or through telephone numbers +63-2-8988-4833 and +63-2-8926-5092.
The BSP’s anti-counterfeiting operations
Since 2020 — during which time, amid the height of the pandemic, counterfeit money had become more rampant — the BSP has been aggressively going after perpetrators of fake banknotes production.
With law enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation, the BSP has been actively conducting joint anti-counterfeiting operations. From 2010 to 2021, the BSP has since conducted 110 law enforcement operations and arrested 179 suspects.
Under RA No. 10951, those convicted as counterfeiters shall be slapped with a maximum of P2 million in fines and imprisonment of up to 20 years.
It has since seized 12,400 pieces of counterfeit banknotes worth P7.8 million and more than 14,300 pieces of counterfeit US dollar banknotes worth more than $92.5 million.
The BSP has also been working with both the Lower House and the Senate to impose a more rigid package of penalties and sanctions against currency counterfeiting and to criminalize the stockpiling of large amounts of coins.
The central bank is hoping that these proposed measures will further strengthen its currency operations such as production, distribution, deposit-taking from banks, authenticity verification, anti-counterfeiting operations, and retirement.