MANILA, Philippines—Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has reminded priests in his archdiocese “not to hoard” and immediately remit the huge quantities of 25-centavo coins collected through the Church-run fund-raiser, Pondo ng Pinoy.

This was after the senior Catholic prelate received word from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that the project had been inadvertently causing a coin shortage.

“We wish to remind parish priests not to hoard the coins in their parish offices or rectories but to remit them as soon as possible to the Pondo ng Pinoy office. You may even call the officer or the bank to pick up the collections,” Rosales said in a circular dated Oct. 10.

“Our attention has been called to the fact that there are so many bottles of Pondo ng Pinoy in various establishments such as offices, schools malls, and other institutions,” the cardinal added.

In an earlier briefing, Rosales said “somebody from Bangko Sentral (had told him) that the Pondo ng Pinoy project was doing a disservice to the communities because parish priests were keeping the coins longer than necessary.”

To expedite the collection, the circular authorized all parishes in the Archdiocese of Manila to pick up Pondo bottles from offices, schools, malls and other institutions within their jurisdiction.

Launched in 2004, Pondo encourages the faithful to help raise funds for the Church’s projects for the poor by donating loose change, particularly 25-centavo coins. The project was initiated by Rosales himself.

According to the archdiocese, total collection from July 2004 to December 2007 has already reached over P161 million.