Here’s a new currency design suggestion from the country’s foreign affairs chief.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. has proposed the removal of the images of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino and wife the late President Corazon Aquino on the country’s P500 banknote, believing they deserved better recognition for their sacrifice for the country’s freedom. The Aquino couple should instead be replaced by greedy “crooks” on the P500 bill, according to Locsin.
“Alisin na sila sa pera,” Locsin tweeted about Ninoy and Cory, the country’s democracy icons.
“Hindi naman sila mukhang pera but the opposite. Alison na. Insulto ang mukhang pera. They gave their lives and money for Filipino freedom,” said Locsin, a former member of the Aquino Cabinet.
Locsin suggested in jest that the faces of crooks, including those who were involved in the pork barrel scam, be featured in the country’s banknote instead.
“For a change put the faces of known crooks but don’t call them crooks. Just let out the word. Like person who helped legislators steal pork?” he said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas recently unveiled the new P1,000 banknote featuring the Philippine eagle instead of three Filipino heroes Josefa Llanes Escoda, Vicente Lim and Jose Abad Santos. The new series, made from water and dirt-resistant polymer, will be released in April 2022.
Many groups slammed the Central Bank for the new P1,000 bill that replaced the heroes with the eagle BSP Governor Ben Diokno however defended the newly designed banknote, saying “heroes will remain heroes whether they are in the notes or not.”
The existing P1,000 bill feature the three heroes will remain in circulation alongside the new polymer banknote.
