Bangko Sentral steps up campaign against fake bills

What do fake money bills and ink cartridges have in common?

Most consumers who acquire them aren’t aware they’re counterfeit.

“Consumers don’t know they are cheated and these are the ones we want to protect through education,” said Viswanath PV, Hewlet Packard (HP) director for consumer inkjet and web solutions imaging and printing group.

He cited a survey that said over 60 percent of people who buy counterfeit items don’t know that what they purchased were fake products.

Officials of HP and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) launched the Cebu leg of their campaign “No to Fakes! Know the Original” in a press conference at Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City.

In 2010, P12.57 million worth of counterfiet peso bills were confiscated.

The BSP introduced improved safety features in new bank notes to counter this, said Illuminada Sicat, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas managing director of the currency management sub-Sector.

“We have new bank notes with features that make it difficult for counterfeiters to follow. We want to educate the public on how to tell which is genuine and which is a fake money bill,” she said.

The Cebu launch is the second phase of a campaign that started in Manila last July.

“We held events in Ayala Mall in Manila geared towards educating the public about our products and how to tell if they are buying the real thing,” said Viswanath.

As of August this year, the National Bureau of Investigation confiscated about 22,000 fake HP ink cartridges which amounted to about P12 million.

In Cebu, more events will be held in malls to increase public awareness.

BSP is distributing new money bills around the country and aims to dispense P700 million worth of new bills within the year.

“As of now we have already issued one-third of that amount with 75 percent of the money billls in Metro Manila while the remaining 25 percent is spread across regions. We hope to issue more within the year in the regional areas,” Sicat said.

Even with the safety features of their new issued bills, Sicat said the public should know how to spot counterfeit money especially in bigger denomination bills.

He said consumers must protect themselves from counterfeiters who will always try and make fake bills and test the market.

“Through this partnership, we can help in the thrust of the national government to eventually achieve total eradication of counterfeit products in the country and help the Philippine government in its effort to remove us from the US blacklist of nations tolerating counterfeits and intellectual piracy,” said Sicat.

The Department of Trade and Industry has also launched a campaign together with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines encouraging industries especially the creative sector in Cebu to register their products and designs with IPO.

According to DTI Cebu provincial director Nelia Navarro, applying for patents is the first step to secure valuable work of Cebu’s emerging creative sector.