‘Do not wait for last day to exchange old banknotes’

Lawyer Leonides Sumbi, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Central Visayas (BSP-7) regional director, reminds the public about the December 29 deadline for them to exchange their old banknotes with the new ones during a press briefing at the BSP-7 office in Cebu City. Sumbi also showed the new banknotes during the briefing.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

BSP reminds public of dec. 29 deadline

Eight days.

This is all the time
left for the public to have their old Philippine peso banknotes exchanged with new ones including today until the deadline for transactions on Dec. 29.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reminded the banking public anew to surrender their New Design Series (NDS) notes in exchange for bills under the New Generation Currency (NGC), as the former have already lost their value in July this year.

Lawyer Leonides Sumbi, BSP-Cebu regional director, urged banknote holders not to wait for the deadline because her office has not received notice on whether there will be an extension.

“Every day, many still come to our office to have their notes exchanged. Don’t wait for the deadline,” she said in a press conference at the BSP Cebu regional office along Osmeña Boulevard on Monday.

The BSP can accommodate transactions from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., said Sumbi.

She said the bank will be closed during the weekend and on Dec. 25, Christmas Day.

December 26

Due to the influx of people who still need to have their old banknotes exchanged, Sumbi said they will deploy a skeletal force to accommodate transactions on Dec. 26 despite it being a holiday.

The latest deadline was announced in late October this year, which was the third time the cutoff for transactions had been rescheduled by the BSP.

P20.2M released

Between Oct. 30 and Dec. 15, Sumbi said the BSP-Cebu regional office has released P20.2 million worth of NGC notes in exchange for NDS bills.
Sumbi said they expect this amount to increase as the deadline approaches.

Since July 1 this year, only the NGC banknotes, launched in 2010, can be used for daily transactions.

The BSP originally set the demonetization of the NDS notes on Jan. 1 this year. In December last year, the BSP moved the deadline to March 31, but officials said in March that there was public clamor to extend the deadline again.

Last June, then BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said they had no plan to extend the June 30 deadline to exchange or replace NDS with NGC bills.

New 5 coins

Meanwhile, the new P5 coins, which come in silver and bear the face of Andres Bonifacio instead of Emilio Aguinaldo, already began circulating in the Visayas.

Sumbi said the BSP-Cebu regional office received 150,000 pieces of P5 coins worth P750,000 on Tuesday last week.

The new P5 coin was released last Nov. 30 to coincide with Bonifacio’s 154th birthday as well as his 120th death anniversary this year.
It officially became legal tender in December.

The BSP official said this is part of the central bank’s program to modernize peso banknotes and bills.

Staggered basis

Unlike the banknotes which were replaced in bulk, Sumbi said they intend to do it on a staggered basis for coins beginning with the P5 denomination.

Sumbi added that they have received feedback from the public that the new P5 coin can easily be mistaken for the current P1, which bears the face of Jose Rizal.

She assured the public that once the BSP begins minting the P1 coin, it will become more distinct from the P5 coin.