Peso bills with President Duterte’s signature to be released next week

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, arrives at a meeting with the Filipino community, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016. Duterte on Tuesday arrived Phnom Penh on his two-day official to Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

MANILA — Peso bills bearing the signature of President Duterte will be released starting next week, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“The notes are ready. The first batch is expected to be released next week after completing the approval and release procedures with the banks,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters on Wednesday.

As such, bills with the President’s signature would also be made available to the public next week, Tetangco said.

From now on, the BSP will only print bills with Duterte’s signature, according to Tetangco.

Tetangco said the BSP has been looking at introducing new generation coins, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, the BSP reminded the public of the ongoing demonetization of old bank notes under the New Design Series (NDS) ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline.

While NDS banknotes were no longer being accepted in business establishments since Jan. 1, these could still be traded for the New Generation Currency (NGC) notes in BSP offices as well as authorized agent banks until Dec. 31.

On Jan. 1, 2017, the NDS banknotes launched in 1985 will be demonetized and will also no longer be exchanged with the BSP and banks, as they will have no monetary value.

Only the NGC banknotes series being issued since 2010 will remain legal tender in the country starting 2017.

The deadline will be strictly implemented, according to the BSP, save for authorized agent banks, treasurers of local government units, clerks of courts and law enforcement agencies, as well as Filipinos living and working abroad.

In the case of banks and local treasurers, the BSP has given them until March 31, 201 7to exchange the NDS notes in their possession as of Dec. 31 this year.

Soon, the signature of President Duterte will be seen on the Philippine peso notes. (Photo taken from https://www.bsp.gov.ph)

NDS bank notes in courts’ custody must be traded until Jan. 31, 2017, while those subject of court cases can still be exchanged within six months after the termination of the corresponding legal cases.

For overseas Filipinos, they are enjoined to register up to P50,000 of old banknotes on the website https://orbs.bsp.gov.ph until Dec. 31, after which they can trade the money within a year from registration date.

As for those in war-torn countries, the BSP has given them until Dec. 31, 2017, to exchange NDS notes, even if they do not register.

The BSP will undertake piece by piece verification of all NDS bank notes that will be submitted for exchange.

As of September, 305.4 million pieces of NDS notes remained in circulation. In all, the old banknotes still circulating amounted to P26.1 billion, or worth 2.9 percent of total bank notes.  SFM