Change is coming. This should be the mantra of business establishments, especially this Christmas season, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-Negros Oriental.
Dr. Gregorio Baccay III, bank officer III and head of the Economic Financial Literacy Center of the BSP here, assured during a multi-stakeholders’ forum Friday that there is enough circulation of Philippine peso coins.
“Business establishments, therefore, should not shortchange the public,” he warned during a forum about Bangko Sentral’s coin re-circulation and enhanced security features of the new generation currency banknotes.
Baccay reminded establishments of stiff sanctions if they do not give the exact change to their customers, under Republic Act 10909 or The No-Shortchanging Law.
Baccay said it is a flimsy excuse for the businesses to say they do not have lower denomination coins such as five or ten centavos available.
In fact, circulating coins to date even includes the one sentimo (centavo), he added.
It is also unlawful to give the customer candy instead of coins as change, or even candy as a portion of the change, Baccay said, as he urged the public to demand from the business establishments the exact change due them.
He urged the public to file a complaint with the Department of Trade & Industry against retailers, department stores, and other business establishments who do not give them the exact amount of change from purchases made.
However, while there is no truth to reports of a shortage of Philippine coins in circulation, Dr. Baccay admitted there is an “artificial shortage” due to a number of reasons, such as coins not being re-circulated and kept inside piggy banks or simply kept at home, among others.
Other possible reasons for the “artificial” coin shortage include instances wherein collections for the numbers game swertres, and offerings during Catholic masses are merely kept by the swertres operators or in the parishes, and not used.
A common concern raised by representatives from business establishments was the purported lack of coins from their depository banks.
They added that some banks allegedly re-circulate unfit and mutilated coins and bank notes.
Dr. Baccay and Dr. Nicasio Parco, BSP-Negros Oriental deputy director, assured they will discuss the matter in the next meeting with the local bankers’ club.
Meanwhile, DTI representative Addie Balatayo disclosed they have received reports of some business establishments who allegedly shortchange their customers.
However, during an attempt to carry out an “entrapment” operation in the town of La Libertad and in Bais City on separate occasions, the DTI personnel failed to pin down these establishments because at the time of their operations, the cashiers were giving the exact amounts of change, said Balatayo.
She said the stores may have been tipped that DTI was conducting entrapment operations, or that they may have sensed that DTI was having on-going operations.
Balatayo welcomed suggestions such as putting up signs in business establishments with the DTI hotline number, or signs urging the public to demand for exact change.
Baccay, on the other hand, called on the public to re-circulate their coins as it is more expensive to mint new ones.
He said the cost of minting one coin is more than its actual value.
The BSP-Negros Oriental will strengthen its advocacy pertaining to the re-circulation of coins, he said.
The Bangko Sentral officials said they are also hopeful the Anti-Coin Hoarding bill that is pending in Congress will soon pass.
In the meantime, the public is urged to bring their coins to the banks and have them exchanged for paper bills, or to use these coins in their transactions.
Baccay called on swertres or small time lottery operators to deposit their coins in the banks so these can be re-circulated.
Also, the Bangko Sentral said they will write to Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes as part of their information campaign to have the coins from the mass collections in the parishes deposited in the banks as well, he added.
Present during the forum were representatives from the banks, business establishments, credit cooperatives, some schools, and pharmacy operators.
The forum also tackled the new generation currency banknotes with enhanced design, and the introduction of the new coins, including the P5 and P10-coins that will be released to the public soon. (With reports from Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)