Criticisms on The Newly Released ₱1,000 Polymer Bill

A new design for the ₱1,000 bill was released in circulation on April 18, 2022, despite the criticisms it received. 

Since 1991, when the ₱1,000 bill was first produced by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the World War II heroes Jose Abad Santos, Josefa Llanes Escoda, and Vicente Lim have always been present even after the BSP’s New design series that was released back in December 2010.

However, in the newly released ₱1,000 bill made in polymer, the national heroes are out of sight. In its place is the national bird of our country, the Philippine Eagle.

Although the front of the bill was changed, at the back, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tubbataha Reefs National Park remains.

“The new ₱1,000 polymer banknote strengthens the BSP’s efforts to respond to pressing public health and safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, promote environmental sustainability, and deter counterfeiting,” the BSP said.

Though the new polymer bill contains new security measures and is more hygienic because it can be sanitized since it is made from plastic, people have different reactions.

Many people praised the bill’s improved aesthetics on social media in response to the changes. Some people are also appreciating the bill’s inclusion of five highly embossed dots to aid visually impaired people in identifying it by using braille.

While Filipino historians are not happy with the new design. Jose Victor Torres, a history professor at De La Salle University-Manila said “It means a break in historical tradition,”.

He added that there was another way of redesigning the P1,000 bill where the three heroes are placed in front of the banknote.

“Ever since the Philippines had its own legal tender…there was already a way of designing before when the front was the hero and the back design was the traditional symbols of Philippine culture,” said Torres.

A Facebook user said,

“While I’m all for showcasing our natural resources, national bird, and etc; I think it is most sacred to honor our fellow men who put their lives on the line for our freedom, national sovereignty, and preservation as a nation,”

Long before the new design was released in circulation, the great grand-niece of the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines; Abad Santos, Desiree Benipayo expressed her disappointment.

On a Facebook post in 2021, referring to the removal of the national heroes’ faces,

“very telling [of] how this government treats our heroes and martyrs,”  Benipayo said.

She added that “love of country, self-sacrifice, and valor are but a few of the values that Filipinos are reminded of every time they see the three World War II heroes” on the ₱1,000 bill.

This, she pointed out that the Philippine Eagle “despite its majesty and splendor,” can’t take the place. She then asked, “Why not put the Philippine eagle at the back of the bill?”.

People are now questioning the new design and saying that we may adapt to modernization without removing the faces of our national heroes who risked their lives when they refused to acknowledge the Japanese colonizers because it would mean their betrayal to their fellow Filipinos.

Before its release to public circulation, lawmakers even opposed the BSP’s new design of the ₱1,000 bill without the three heroes as it could add to the apparent historical revisionism.

It is  “a divisive revisionist makeover,” said Makabayan lawmakers.

They also pointed out that the new design without the national heroes’ image could “undermine their historical contributions in the defense of the (country’s) freedoms and the fight against foreign aggression.”

Others have different opinions and are saying that heroes will continue to be heroes even if their images are not on our bills.

According to Governor Benjamin E. Diokno of BSP said in a briefing back in December,

“Heroes will remain heroes whether they are in the notes or not. The ₱1,000 paper banknote featuring Jose Abad Santos, Vicente Lim, Josefa Llanes Escoda will remain in circulation alongside with the new 1,000-piso polymer banknotes,” 

The BSP initially issued 10 million pieces of the new polymer banknote and will be in circulation along with the old paper banknote. 

Source: Business World, Inquirer