Former Finance Sec. Gary Teves expressed support for Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Dumaguete Branch’s recently launched campaign on the proper use and handling of Philippine bank notes and coins.
Teves, former President and CEO of Land Bank of the Philippines, said that the proper handling of money will lengthen their life span and reduce the need to print more bills, which entails high production costs. “Our new-generation Philippine bills are especially expensive to produce because of their security features. It would be wise to inform the public how they can take better care of their bills,” Teves said.
Last July 6, BSP’s local office introduced two 60-seconder infomercials, one in English and one in the dialect, to promote the central bank’s Clean Note Policy, which states that notes and coins that have been badly soiled, mutilated or marked with writings are considered unfit for circulation and will have to be replaced with new ones.
Meanwhile, Presidential Decree No. 247 prohibits the “defacement, mutilation, tearing, burning or destruction of notes and coins.” For instance, the folding of money bills crumples and could therefore shorten their lifespan.
BSP-Dumaguete earlier said that every month, more than one million pieces of bank notes are taken out of circulation in Negros Oriental alone. Printing of new money uses up natural resources such as abaca, which comprises 20% of raw materials used to create Philippine money.
As LandBank chief, Teves helped bring back the bank to its original mandate of spurring development in the countryside by focusing resources on small farmers, fisher folk, and on small, medium and micro enterprises.
