TACLOBAN CITY – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has yet to announce the expiration of old bank notes as a legal tender even if the government has already stopped its production two years ago, an official said.
BSP Tacloban Branch executive director Joseph Norbert David said their main office will make formal announcement on the validity of the old currency. “Normally, it would take three years for us to retrieve old currency and another year for the banks to deposit these old BSP bills before it will be completely phased out. The retrieval started early of 2012,” David said.
Although, the old bills are still considered as legal tender, the BSP encouraged the public to deposit old notes in banks and use the new design series. The new money introduced December of 2010 has been circulating in the region since early 2011. The present New Design Series unveiled in 1985 will remain legal tender until next year. The BSP has intensifying information drive on the new generation series this year through forums, exhibits, and distribution of posters about the new banknotes. The campaign will highlight the new and upgraded security features that have been incorporated on all our new generation banknotes to protect the public from counterfeiters and uphold the integrity of the Philippine banknotes.
The BSP’s demonetization program gives the public enough time to make a full transition to the new-generation currency. “Demonetization is the process of removing the monetary value of a legal tender currency through gradual process as applied to unfit and mutilated currency notes and coins,” David added. The BSP launched the process of redesigning the notes in 2009. The outdated security features of the old bank notes made counterfeiters much easier to reproduce buoyed by advanced technology. (KLYTE FAYE C. VELOSO, LNU Intern)
