THE central bank on Tuesday released an inaugural 27 million pieces of Philippine peso bills with the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte, in time for cash gifts during the holidays.
“The President has signed the New Generation Currency (NGC) banknote series. We secured his signature. This was only reflected in the banknote series that we are launching today,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said.
Guinigundo said the first banknotes with Duterte’s signature were in denominations of P20, P50, P100, P200, P500 and P1,000, totalling P8.75 billion.
“The design, the size, the dimension, the security features—they are all the same, except the signatory, who is now the President of the republic, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. BSP Governor [Amando] Tetangco [Jr.] is still the signatory to these banknotes,” he said.
The BSP official said that for every denomination, there would be five million bills available to banks starting Tuesday in and out of Metro Manila.
“Our security printing complex will continue to produce these Duterte-signed NGC banknotes and we will continue to distribute these,” Guinigundo said.
“In the next few days, there will be subsequent shipment of the banknotes, Duterte-signed bank notes, to the regions, to the provinces,” he added.