new generation of bank notes

image courtesy of philstar.com

I was really excited when I read the Facebook status of message of PNoy yesterday regarding the launch of the new generation of Philippine bank notes. I searched around the Internet for some fresh pictures of the new bank notes and what I found really impressed me. I do hope to really see and get one within the week. 

The new bank notes are impressive. All six denominations (P20, P50, P100, P200, P500, and P1,000) have the same old colors but new designs. The P500 bill now features the late President Corazon Aquino with her husband the late Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr. Some marvelous landmarks in the Philippines were also featured such as the Banawe Rice Terraces (P20), Taal Lake (P50), Mayon Volcano (P100), Chocolate Hills (P200), the eight-kilometer Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (P500), and the Tubbataha Reefs National Park (P1,000). Aside from these some important species were also featured such as the South Sea Pearl Pinctada maxima, blue-naped parrot (Tanygnathus lucionensis) Philippine tarsier, butanding (whale shark), maliputo fish, and the palm civet of the Cordilleras.

image from pinoyexchange.com/forums

Indeed the three years work of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has paid off. According to the BSP, the security features of the new bank notes include security threads, fibers, watermaks, invisible fluorescent inks, optically variable ink, microprint, more pattern, and iridescent band. They day that these new bills would make it difficult and more expensive for counterfeiters to produce fake money. I do hope that indeed you will be ahead of the counterfeiters this time. Good work BSP!