A legislator has urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to retain the abaca fiber as a raw material in the production of the Philippine bank notes.
TGP party-list Rep. Jose Teves, Jr. filed Resolution 595 following reports that the BSP started its pilot-testing of the use of P1,000-polymer bank notes in the first half of 2022 in a bid to shift to polymer in place of the abaca fiber in producing Philippine peso bills.
Teves said the current standard bank notes produced by the BSP, notwithstanding the P1,000 polymer bank notes, is composed of 80 percent cotton and 20 percent abaca fiber.
“According to the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (Phi]FIDA), the Philippines is the leading source of abaca fiber in the world for the past 50 years, supplying 85 percent of the world demand,” Teves said.
“Likewise, abaca fiber is one of the strongest natural fibers in the world,” he added. According to the Association of Abaca Pulp Manufacturers, Inc., the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas uses 1,000 to 1,800 metric tons of abaca fiber valued at $10.8 million for the production of our current bank notes.
“As such, the shift to polymer bank notes will certainly affect the abaca industry in our country,” Teves stressed.
“The polymer banknotes are considered non-biodegradable because of its composition; unlike the current abaca fiber and cotton made bank notes which are biodegradable and environmentally sustainable,” Teves said.
“Likewise, the polymer bank notes cannot be easily recycled because it is not acceptable to plastic recyclers or millers due to its hard composition or material,” he added. Maricel V. Cruz