BACOLOD CITY — More New Generation Currency (NGC) coins have been circulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in Negros Occidental province this April.
Joanne Marie Castelo, deputy director and head of BSP Bacolod Branch, said in a press conference on Wednesday they have released through banks a small quantity of five of the six coins in the series.
These are the PHP10, PHP5, PHP1, 25-centavo, and five-centavo coins. The one-centavo coin has not yet been circulated in the province.
Since December last year, a limited number of new PHP5 coins have been circulated by the BSP in Negros Occidental.
“We are taking this (information dissemination) initiative to cascade to our local stakeholders the characteristics of our newly-designed coins and inform the public that these coins are now being released by the BSP Bacolod Branch,” Castelo said.
She noted that these new coins can now be used to purchase goods and services, meaning these coins should be accepted alongside the old-design coins.
“We believe that after this event, we can work together to spread the knowledge and the characteristics and the security features of our New Generation coins,” Castelo told the BSP’s media partners.
She urged Negrenses to learn to appreciate the value of these coins as these are national symbols of Philippine heritage.
Castelo said that as of April 18, the BSP has released nationwide at least 137.9 million pieces of NGC coins — 10 million pieces of PHP10 coins; 77 million of PHP5 coins; 19 million of PHP1 coins; 9.5 million of 25-centavo coins; 10.9 million of five-centavo coins; and 11.5 million of one-centavo coins.
Dori Mae Cañeso, bank officer II of BSP-Bacolod, urged Negrenses to be patient with the change introduced by the government through the NGC coins.
“You are trying to adjust, we understand that. We know in Bangko Sentral that we Filipinos can adapt to this change in the newly-designed coins,” she added.
The NGC Series coins feature the new BSP logo, three national heroes (Apolinario Mabini in the PHP10 coin, Andres Bonifacio in the PHP5 coin, and Jose Rizal in the PHP1 coin), a stylized three stars and a sun in the 25-centavo, five-centavo, and one-centavo coins, and endemic flora consistent with the design of the NGC Banknote Series that highlights Philippine fauna.
The BSP said the differences between the NGC coins and the existing BSP Coin Series can be best appreciated through visual means and tactile familiarization.
The NGC Coin Series features enhanced the aesthetics and security, with metallic composition aimed at discouraging the illegal practice of hoarding large quantities of coins for the extraction of their metal content.
The two highest denominated coins, the PHP10 and PHP5 coins, have micro-printed details using laser-engraved technology that makes it difficult for these coins to be duplicated using traditional coin counterfeiting methods, according to the BSP. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
