Should We Suspend Production of P1,000 Bills? Senator Koko Pimentel Thinks So

With the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) guidelines for the new P1000 polymer bills circulating online, Filipinos are questioning how sensitive the new banknote is. Some fear that they may end up paying the fine of P20,000 for violating any of the rules. Opposition senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III agrees with the criticism, too.

In a statement released last Tuesday, July 12, the senator questioned the BSP's use of polymer instead of abaca, which, he claimed, is "detrimental" to local abaca producers and "impractical" to most citizens.

"The issuance of these polymer bills to replace our old banknotes is absolutely absurd. Our bills should be designed in such a way that they can withstand a minimum amount of abuse like crumpling and folding. Parang gusto pa yata nila ilagay sa frame 'yung bills para kunwari matibay. The BSP should suspend the production of these banknotes ASAP," Pimentel expressed.

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The veteran legislator emphasized the possible negative impact of replacing abaca as a material, considering the Philippines' income from abaca fiber exports. Our economy gets about $97.1 million from the material each year.

Pimentel also noted that the Philippines is one of the worldwide leaders of abaca trading. Numbers from the Department of Agriculture back in 2016 suggest that the country provides up to 87.5 percent of the world’s abaca fiber requirements.

Pimentel said that he has already filed a resolution urging the Senate to conduct an inquiry on how frequent the BSP changes its banknotes and coins, considering that these are done at the expense of taxpayers.

Among some of Pimentel's primary concerns are if the BSP consulted with agencies or offices in changing the monetary design and what had been the original reasons for the BSP for changing the said banknotes. He also asked if the P1,000 polymer note is truly a "limited series" and if the new design series was demonetized.

At the very least, BSP confirmed that we can still fold the said banknotes.