On December 2010, the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) publicly released a new set of completely redesigned Philippine banknotes. Just like the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign launched by the Department of Tourism only a few months ago, it did not escape the criticism of Filipinos. Within hours many of its flaws were brought out. Among these are:
- Wrong location of the Underground River in Palawan (500 peso bill)
- Blue-Naped Parrot’s red beak rendered in yellow, while its tail is rendered in in green instead of yellow (500 peso bill)
- Missing islands (i.e. Batanes) in the upper region of the Philippine map (1000 peso bill)
- Wrong location of Saint Paul’s river (500 peso bill)
- Wrong location of the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park (1000 peso bill)
Amid the graphical mistakes, the new bank notes improves on safety features, such as:
- Optically variable device used in areas of the 500 and 1000 peso bill which changes colors when the note is rotated at 90 degrees
- Optically variable ink the 1000 peso bill which changes colors when viewed at different angles
- Embossed prints that feel rough to touch to assist the vision-impaired
- Visible security fibers embedded at random and glow under ultraviolet light
- Shadow image of the portrait which appears when held against the light
- The word “Pilipino” written in Baybayin becomes visible when held against the light
- Concealed value of the note becomes visible when held at a 45-degree angle
- Security thread becomes visible when held against the light
For more detailes, click on the images to view the banknote’s description.
Comments
One response to “Errors plague new Philippine Peso bill design, strong security features touted by BSP”