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Episode #10 - PHILIPPINES - Peso Banknotes, WWII Japanese Invasion Money and Emergency Money - YouTube
Channel: unknown
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Hello and welcome to World Currency Collector!
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Today we're heading down to Southeast Asia
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to visit the beautiful island country called
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the Republic of the Philippines.
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This country is comprised of more than 7,600 islands
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in three different geographical divisions.
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From north to south,
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they're known collectively as
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Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
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More than 100 million people call the Philippines home
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and the official languages there are
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Filipino and English.
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And the Philippine peso is the official currency.
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Now we're going to check out some different banknotes
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spanning from 1936 all the way to 2010.
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And you'll find the word "peso"
on the old notes prior to 1967,
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but then like this one, after,
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when it was no longer a colony of the United States,
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you'll see the word "piso."
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These banknotes span a long history of time
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and they have a lot of different images.
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A lot of different leaders on them,
and we're going to take a walk
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through each one, and see
what we can learn about them.
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This first bank note from 1936 looks,
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not surprisingly, very similar to the
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United States dollar from the same time
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period because the U.S. pretty much had
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control of the Philippines at that time.
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And just for comparison sake,
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here's a 1935A series Silver Certificate.
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The design on the reverse is actually
pretty similar as well,
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although it's really faded on the peso that I have.
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Now the one peso note across the very top,
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you can barely read it, up way at the top here,
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it says: "By authority of [an act of] the Philippines legislature...
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...approved by the president of the United States June 13, 1922."
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Following that it says,
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"This certifies that there has been deposited in the Treasury of the Philippines...
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...one peso payable to the bearer on demand...
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...in silver pesos or in legal tender currency...
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...of the United States of equivalent value."
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And along the bottom here, you'll see
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it says "Series of 1936"
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along with the signature of the President and Treasurer.
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And at the very bottom here it says Treasury Certificate.
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On the right, this red seal is of the
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Commonwealth of the Philippines, and it has the text
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"Manila, Philippines" in black ink over the top.
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On the left side of this note
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we've got a portrait here of Apolinario Mabini.
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He was born in 1864 and was a
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Filipino revolutionary leader, educator,
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lawyer, and a statesman who served first
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as a legal and constitutional advisor to
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the Revolutionary Government and then as
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the first Prime Minister of the
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Philippines upon the establishment of
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the First Philippine Republic.
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You'll see his portrait on several banknotes.
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His contributions to the Philippine government
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were significant, despite him
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losing both of his legs to polio in 1896,
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and he was only 38 years old when he
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passed away in 1903.
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On December 10, 1941 Japan invaded the Philippines
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during World War II, and they captured
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the city of Manila within a month of
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landing in Luzon. And when they did that,
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they confiscated more than 20 million dollars
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in cash, foreign currency, and bullion coins.
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The Japanese government
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then proceeded to use that currency abroad
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to purchase some raw materials,
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and weapons, and food like rice for its war efforts.
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And in its place,
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they decided to issue their own currency
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for the Philippines.
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And so these banknotes, they're known officially as
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"Japanese government-issued Philippine fiat pesos"
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but they are more frequently referred to as
"Japanese Invasion Money,"
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or collectors call them JIMs.
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And we have examples here in
1, 5, and 10 pesos denominations.
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Here on the front, the Rizal Monument of Manila is featured on these banknotes,
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and it's actually on all three of them.
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Now this monument was built to commemorate
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the executed Filipino nationalist José Rizal,
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and we're going to learn more about
him in a few minutes.
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World War II survivors actually refer to these notes
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as “Mickey Mouse money” because it took such a
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significant amount of them to buy anything.
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A box of matches would cost
100 "Mickey Mouse" pesos,
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I mean, these were essentially worthless.
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In 1943, the Philippine Commonwealth
Government in the region of Mindanao
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ordered the printing of this "Emergency Money"
while the government was in exile.
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And here's two examples of a 1 and a 10 pesos.
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These banknotes are sometimes
referred to as "guerrilla notes,"
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and the Second Philippine Republic,
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which was sponsored by Japan at the time,
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would arrest and even execute people, just for possession of these emergency banknotes.
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The Republic wanted a monopoly on
all money in the country,
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and they were very unhappy that
the Commonwealth Government
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issued these banknotes while they were in exile.
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The front of both of these notes
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say up here, "This certifies that the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines...
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...will redeem this certificate at face value...
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... upon termination of emergency."
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And on the back of both of these notes,
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it reads: "This note is redeemable at
face value [after the] emergency...
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...and will not be devalued or discriminated against."
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"Counterfeiting of this note will be severely punished."
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Following the end of World War II,
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banknotes were once again issued by the
Central Bank of the Philippines.
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Next we have here a 20 centavos banknote
from sometime around 1949.
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It's not dated, and there really isn't very much to it.
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The front of the note has some simple text
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and a red serial number, as well as the
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seal of the Central Bank of the Philippines.
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And the back of this note just simply says
"Philippines" on the top,
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with a "20 centavos" notation in the center.
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And all around in these circles here it says
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"Central Bank of the Philippines" in the design.
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And this note happens to have been printed by
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Thomas De La Rue & Company in London.
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This seems like a pretty good time to tell you that
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I don't speak Filipino, so if I'm saying
some of these things wrong,
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please forgive me,
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and feel free to post a note that will
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help us understand how to
say some of these names and places.
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Now this 20 pesos note was also printed around 1949.
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It features two portraits on the front.
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The left side shows Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro,
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and he lived from 1863 to 1897.
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He was a Filipino revolutionary leader
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and the President of the Tagalog Republic.
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He is often called the
"Father of the Philippine Revolution."
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He sought the independence of the Philippines from
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Spanish colonial rule,
and started the Philippine Revolution.
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Some Filipino historians consider him to be the first President of the Philippines,
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although he never officially held that title.
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He started a secret society called
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the Katipunan, which we're going to
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learn about more in a few minutes.
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The right side portrait is of Emilio Jacinto y Dizon,
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who was a Filipino General during
the Philippine Revolution.
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He lived from 1870 until 1899.
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He was one of the highest ranking officers in the
Kah... Katiputan... Katipunan!
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Excuse me!
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...being a member of its Supreme Council.
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He was sometimes recognized as the
"Brains of the Revolution,"
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and he and his banknote buddy Bonifacio served the country of the Philippines together for many years.
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The back of this bank note is
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printed in a brownish-orange color
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and it features a "cartilla" or a booklet
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with the title on it here [Kartilya ng Katipunan].
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The Katipunan was a secret revolutionary organization,
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and this booklet was written by its leader Bonifacio which is the gentleman on the front of the note.
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And it was later revised by Jacinto, who is the other gentleman on the front of the note.
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The teachings put forth by
the Katipunan included things like,
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"A deed that is motivated by self-interest or self-pity and done without sincerity lacks nobility,"
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and "Do not waste your time; lost wealth can be retrieved but time lost is lost forever."
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And next to the booklet on this note is the
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Balintawak Monument, which represents the movement against the Spanish Empire,
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(the entire point [of] the Katipunan.)
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We're going to fast forward a few years now to 1969.
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This "isa" or one peso note,
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notice the change from "peso" to "piso,"
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features a portrait of José Rizal on the obverse.
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His portrait is also the watermark on this note.
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Rizal is a national hero in the Philippines.
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He was executed by the Spanish colonial
government in 1896 at the age of 35
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for his participation in the
Filipino Propaganda Movement.
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He loudly vocalized the call for reform, and advocated the revolution against Spain.
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And the reverse shows the The Aguinaldo mansion in Kawit, Cavite,
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which is the site of the historic proclamation of Philippine Independence from Spain on June 12, 1898.
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You're going to see images from this scene
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on several bank notes today.
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This "dalawang" or 2 peso note features
another portrait of José Rizal.
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It was issued in 1978, almost a decade after the previous note that we looked at.
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The back of this note also features a scene from the Proclamation of Independence,
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sort of in a reverse pattern.
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This "limang" or 5 peso note has a portrait
of Emilio Aguinaldo on the front.
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And mine is in pretty poor condition.
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He was a Filipino revolutionary, politician,
and a military leader
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who is officially recognized as the
first President of the Philippines.
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He lived from 1869 to 1964.
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He led Philippine forces against Spain
during the Philippine Revolution,
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and then again during the Spanish-American war,
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and finally, against the United States.
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He fought valiantly to ensure the
independence of his country.
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And the back of this note features a scene that should be very familiar to you by now.
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These two "sampung" or 10 peso
notes look very similar,
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but the older version, which was issued around 1985,
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just features a portrait of a Apolinario Mabini.
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Do you remember him from the first
banknote we saw back in 1936?
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The newer version of this note also
adds a portrait of Andres Bonifacio,
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the writer of the Katipunan that we talked about before.
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You can see they also slipped an image of his booklet onto the front, next to the image
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that depicts the draft of the Malolos Constitution.
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The back of these notes are very similar to one another as well.
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You can see the original just has
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an image of the Barasoain Church, also
known as "Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish."
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It's a Roman Catholic Church about
26 miles outside of Manila.
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And the newest note also has that church featured.
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It was the location of the drafting for the Malolos Constitution in 1898 by the new Congress.
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Now this newer banknote shows an image
of the secret Katipunan society meeting.
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Now, those of us in the United States,
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when we hear the letters "KKK,"
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we think of something completely different.
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And this "KKK" is short for this phrase right here:
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And I assure you, it has absolutely
nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan.
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After all, the teachings of the
Katipunan included things like:
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"Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor."
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This scene here depicts the new
members of the Katipunan,
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signing their allegiance in their own blood.
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It features knives in their hands and a skull on the table,
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with a flag proudly showing
the letters KKK behind them.
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We're going to fast forward to 2010,
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and take a look at this red- and orange- colored "limampung" or 50 peso note.
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Sergio Osmeña, the 4th President of the Philippines,
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is the man that's featured here on the obverse.
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He lived from 1878 to 1961.
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A founder of the Nationalist Party,
he was also the first Visayan,
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which is a Philippine ethnic group
native to the center island,
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to become the President of the Philippines.
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To the left is a scene from the
First National Assembly, and to his right,
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or to *our* right I should say,
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is United States General Douglas MacArthur
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and the men who served during the Leyte Landing.
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And this battle took place in 1944 as part of World War II.
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It ended three years of Japanese
occupation on the islands.
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On the reverse of this 50 note,
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we can see a map outline of the country
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along with several lakes and volcanoes
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in the Province of Batangas.
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In front of that, we can see the Maliputo,
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or giant trevally fish. And this fish is enormous.
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It can grow to be 67 inches long and weigh 176 pounds.
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It can actually be found throughout the
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Indian and Pacific Oceans along
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coastlines of three different continents
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and across hundreds of islands,
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but in the Philippines it can be found living
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in Taal Lake within the inactive Taal Caldera.
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This "sandaang" or 100 peso is also from 2010,
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and I am not sure if I'm saying that right.
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The obverse of this blue- and violet- colored note
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features a portrait of Manuel Acuña Roxas,
(again, not sure if I'm saying that right)
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the first President of the Independent Third Republic of the Philippines.
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He lived from 1892 to 1948.
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Behind him to the left is the building of the
Central Bank of the Philippines Headquarters,
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and to [our] right is the country's coat of arms and the central bank logo up here.
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Below that is a scene from his inauguration in 1946.
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The reverse of this banknote features a
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map outline of the Philippines again,
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along with the Mayon Volcano on the island of Luzon.
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This volcano is known as the "perfect cone"
because of its beautiful symmetry.
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It was declared the first national park in 1938.
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It is an active volcano that has
erupted multiple times in the last decade.
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In front of it is a whale shark, the
largest known fish species in the world.
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It can grow more than 41 feet long
and weigh over 21 tons.
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It's lived on earth for more than 60 million years,
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and it has a lifespan of about 70 years.
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They're completely harmless to humans, and feed primarily on plankton.
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Well, today we learned a little bit
about the history of the Philippines
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through a few of their banknotes.
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We learned about invasion money,
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and we learned about emergency money,
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and lots of regular issue notes as well.
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We've seen politicians, and leaders, and heroes.
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We even got to see some amazing
sea life towards the end of these issues.
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So I hope you've enjoyed our journey today,
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and I'll see you next time on World Currency Collector.
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