Errors plague new Philippine Peso bill design, strong security features touted by BSP

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.