Government has decided to withdraw 100 bill notes!

It is common for the government and/or the central bank of a country to withdraw the use of certain bill notes due to certain conditions.

The central bank of the Philippines called for the return of misprinted P100 bills, adding they must not be circulated, copied, traded or written about in social media to prevent confusion and devaluation of trust in the Philippine currency.

“Posting photos of alleged misprinted banknotes on social media causes confusion which may negatively affect commerce,” said the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in its Facebook account.

Early Anne Yehey posted on her Facebook on Tuesday photos of misprinted P100 that she got from the ATM of a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in Quezon City. The face of the late President Manuel Roxas was missing. The bills had missing and misspelled words.

“The public is also advised to be vigilant against acts of those who wish to confuse, deceive or illegally profit from posting, producing and/or selling fake ‘misprinted’ notes with no numismatic value,” the BSP said.

It also “strongly urges the public to refrain from acts that could cast doubt on the credibility of our legal tender,” adding the public must be “wary of those who may take advantage of the misprinting incident”. There were no details of sanctions and punishments.

“The BSP assures the public that it is, and has always been, committed to safeguarding the authenticity and genuineness of our currency and to protecting the public interest,” the BSP said.

It admitted the misprinted bills have become collectors’ items. Owners of erroneously misprinted notes were advised to go the BSP’s head office in Manila or its security plant complex in Metro Manila’s suburban Quezon City.

The BSP has counted 33 pieces of misprinted P100 bills, 19 of which were recovered, said Carlyn Pangilinan, managing director of the BSP’s currency management subsector

“New printing machines that were acquired in November were identified as culprits. After complaining to the supplier of the erroneous printing machines, the BSP sought improvement in the printing bills,” Pangilinan said.

The BPI immediately removed the cassettes from their ATM that contained misprinted banknotes when reports of their circulation reached the social media.

Earlier, another bank had reported to BSP about receiving delivery of P50 bills, portions of which were misprinted. “It was a good thing the bank checked all the notes that were loaded into the ATM machines,” said Pangilinan.

In 2010, some banknotes carried an incorrect map and an endangered native bird with wrong colors.

In 2005, a batch of P100 bills misspelled the name of former President Gloria Arroyo.