BANGKO SENTRAL Unveils RESHAPED P5 Coin and NEW P20 Coin

For Filipinos who have been observing the money used in the country for a long time, they would probably notice that the Philippine Peso has been transferring more of their currency units from bill form to coinage. Some might still recall P5 and P10 being bills before being made to coins through the 1990s and 200s. Last year the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) also rolled out the New Generation Currency coin series, though there have been complaints on the current design of the P5 coin. That issue will be resolved in an update to the NGC series, which will also debut yet another bill-turned-coin.

CNN Philippines reports that as of this Tuesday, December 17, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has introduced some alterations to the current New Generation Currency set of Philippine Peso coins. Perhaps the most welcome news to wide users of NGC series is the new form of the P5 coin, which in its original issued shape was easily confused with older P1 coins particularly from the preceding New Design set which started being minted in 1995. The BSP decided to revive a coin design from the 1980s “Flora and Fauna” series to make the P5 distinct.

The new and improved NGC P5 coin will have a nine-sided nonagon shape. This is compared to the “Flora and Fauna” P2 coin which had ten sides. Nothing else of the NGC P5 will be altered, remaining silver in color and keeping both Emilio Aguinaldo and Tayabak plant on its obverse and reverse sides respectively. This new design has already been minted and two million pieces of it will begin circulation by Thursday, December 19.

Meanwhile, the BSP also introduced the latest addition to the NGC Peso coins, with an official start of circulation by the first quarter of next year. This is the P20 coin, which was originally announced back in July. The decision to transition the P20 denomination from paper to coin was due to the desire for durability. Current P20 bills of the New Generation Currency are reported in statistics to have a high return rate to the Bangko Sentral for replacement of worn pieces, due to being the lowest peso denomination in banknotes. While the replacement P20 coins cost more than printing notes, the advantage is the longer durability of coinage to bills. NGC P20 banknotes will continue in print until 2021, by which time the coin versions will replace them.

True to its nature as a national central bank, the BSP has sole power to print and coin currency for circulation in the Philippines. It will however transfer its Security Plant Complex, where money is minted, from Quezon City to New Clark in the future.

Image courtesy of GMA News