“What’s with the redesign?”
For decades, our Banko Sentral has been redesigning and replacing our paper currency bills with regularity without any problems. This is, until the BSP decided to replace the images of three heroes who are currently on the one-thousand-peso bill with the image of our national bird, the Philippine eagle.
Predictably, the descendants joined by other sectors not only disagreed but also objected. If not for this controversy, the public – myself included – would not have known that this particular process is vested solely in the hands of the BSP.
But what really provoked this controversy? Was it mainly the removal of the images of three patriots and heroes or the ease in which the decision to replace was made? This change with the Philippine Eagle is a big break from tradition. Our banknotes have always been adorned with images of our national heroes. In the last 15 years, however, images of some political leaders and former presidents have found their way to our paper currency bills.
Perhaps, the decision by the BSP was intended to follow the European Union example which does not allow images of individual persons to appear on any of its banknotes.
This is mainly due to the fact that the EU is composed of 27 different countries. In the case of the United States, when there was a plan to replace the image of Andrew Jackson with that of Harriet Tubman, an African American woman abolitionist during the American Civil War on the twenty-dollar bill, the public debate that ensued apparently derailed the plan which has not been implemented up to now. In addition, the decision to replace resides on the Secretary of the Treasury and not with the Federal Reserve Board.
With us, the process is different. It is entirely up to the BSP whether other relevant agencies will be consulted or not, which in this case is the National Historical Commission. When asked why the NHC was not consulted, one BSP official said that this was because the issue did not involve history which is not true. The move involves history because the heroes and patriots whose images were removed are historical figures and therefore should have involved the NHC. The only agency that was consulted according to that BSP official was the DENR which shows the depth of understanding of the issue.
The change may have seemed so simple and straightforward to the BSP but when some immediate descendants of those heroes are still very much alive, maybe the BSP should have proceeded with more sensitivity. To be fair to the BSP, it is hard to argue against the choice of the Philippine Eagle which is in danger of extinction. Rumors circulating is that the BSP is also planning to replace other images on other banknotes like the 500-peso bill. If this is the case, then it may follow that all those in our banknotes will eventually disappear in the future.
Part of the problem here is that there are now very few denominations in circulation which limits the number of images that can be printed on our banknotes. These are the 20, 50, 100, 200,500 and the 1,000 banknotes. It would therefore make sense if we combine images in one denomination. Perhaps the three heroes can remain in their places while the Philippine Eagle occupy the other side. According to BSP Governor Ben Diokno, the redesign of our banknotes takes place roughly every ten years.
As a point of comparison, that Andrew Jackson image on the twenty-dollar bill has been in circulation since 1928. Maybe we should wait much longer before changing the design of our paper money. We must also see to it that there is only one design and color for one denomination. The 100-peso bill for instance has two different shades which can be confusing. According to the BSP, the world trend today is towards polymer made banknotes which last much longer and will be cheaper in the end. But the Philippines is the top producer of abaca or Manila hemp in which our paper money is made of. Shouldn’t the BSP be championing the use of the Manila hemp instead of promoting polymer?
Due to this controversy, there is now a bill being filed in the House of Representatives that will address the process of redesigning our banknotes. There is probably no need for a law considering that an executive order should be enough. What is needed are rules and procedures to be followed whenever there is a plan to redesign a banknote so that everything will not rest solely with the BSP. One advantage of this is that this will allow more research and consultation to avoid controversies.
Lastly, we should be printing our own currency instead of other countries doing it for us.