The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has just issued an advisory informing the public that the legal tender limit of Philippine coins per transaction has been increased under BSP Circular No. 1162, series of 2022.
According to the BSP, the upward adjustment in the legal tender limit was meant to promote the use of coins in payments and other cash transactions in the Philippines. It supersedes BSP Circular No. 537, which was issued in 2006.
IMAGE CREDIT: https://www.bsp.gov.ph/Regulations/Issuances/2022/1162.pdf
The circular, which was published in BusinessWorld last December 16, 2022, states that based on RA No. 7653 or “The New Central Bank Act,” as amended by RA No. 11211, the revised legal tender limit for coins shall now be set as follows:
- Every 0.01 coin denomination shall have a 200 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 0.05 coin denomination shall have a 200 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 0.10 coin denomination shall have a 200 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 0.25 coin denomination shall have a 200 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 1.00 coin denomination shall have a 2,000 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 5.00 coin denomination shall have a 2,000 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 10.00 coin denomination shall have a 2,000 limit (in PH pesos)
- Every 20.00 coin denomination shall have a 2,000 limit (in PH pesos)
This means that P1.00, P5.00, P10.00, and P20.00 peso coins may now be accepted as payment or change for amounts not exceeding two thousand pesos (P2,000.00). The P.01-, P.05-, P.10-, and P.25-centavo coins, on the other hand, may now be accepted for amounts not exceeding two hundred pesos (P200.00) per transaction.
These figures are increases from previous limits of one thousand pesos (P1,000.00) and one hundred pesos (P100.00), respectively.
Furthermore, the legal tender limit for single-transaction of coins shall not preclude transactions above the stated coin limits (and may therefore be used and accepted in amounts higher than the legal tender limits), provided that both parties had a prior or mutual agreement.
Encouraging the use of coins in cash transactions
The central bank has repeatedly encouraged the public to use coins for payment transactions to maximize their use and the cost of minting, as well as to help address the perceived coin shortage in some parts of the country.
Some disregard the importance of the coins, especially the smaller denominations, often using them as a “washer” to distribute the load of threaded fastener during carpentry work. Many others store the coins in their piggy banks for a long time and eventually forget that they exist.
Recently, the BSP has teamed up with SM, Robinsons, and Festival Supermalls for its coin recirculation program.
Under this program, coin deposit machines (CoDM) will be placed in select malls throughout the country where people can exchange the coins for their exact value either as GCash e-wallet credits or as shopping vouchers at SM.
In its advisory, the BSP also stated that all denominations of the BSP Coin series and the New Generation Currency Coin series are legal tender and should be accepted as payment for goods and services. These are the 1-, 5-, 10-, and 25-Sentimo coins and the 1-, 5-, 10-, and 20-Piso coins.