Pala-isip

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . MANILA, Philippines—The series of new peso bills, which was vilified after its launch last December for a mislocated map, a wrong-colored beak of a bird, among other errors, has been judged as one of the best currency series in the world in an international design competition. The set of new peso notes, called the “New Generation Currency (NGC)” series, was one of two finalists for best new currencies in the world in a worldwide contest organized by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA). IACA is an international organization of central banks, currency-issuing authorities, currency producers and suppliers. The winner of the Best Currency Award was the new series of shilling notes from Uganda. The other finalist for best new currencies was the new series of rupee notes from Sri Lanka. The contest is aimed at recognizing the best currencies that have been issued within the last 18 months. The currencies were evaluated on t...

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . ====================== VERY FEW people are aware of it, but we are going to have a new set of peso bills very, very soon. We may be giving our godchildren the new bills as gifts this Christmas. The present set of paper Philippine currency will be phased out. New coins will be issued later. The question is, why is the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) doing this secretly and hastily? The nation is totally unaware of what will happen to their money or how the new money will look like. Malacañang, Congress and the Supreme Court did not know anything about it beforehand. The BSP claims that it is an independent entity and can do anything it wants. In other words, it is the fourth branch of government, a co-equal of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. To get a favorable reaction from President Aquino, the images of his parents, Ninoy and President Cory, will be in the P500 note. But no one, except insiders and a privileged few, have seen th...