The Philippine Online Chronicles

Amid criticisms to the newly-designed Philippine peso bills which are allegedly riddled with errors, central bank officials noted that such “errors” were in fact “abstractions of reality” and product of space limitations.

“I don't think we want to describe them as errors. They are abstractions of reality. Abstractions in the sense that number 1, the map is not really complete in the sense that what we really wanted to show is the general geographical location of the six important World Heritage sites in the Philippines,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo said in a TV appearance.

Each denomination features an outline map of the Philippine archipelago printed in its back, flanked with illustrations of animal species endemic to the Philippines as well as images of scenic spots for which the country is noted.

The spots where these places can be located are indicated in the map.

Space constraints

Gunigundo is referring to the Saint Paul subterranean river in Palawan, a UNESCO world heritage site which was said to have been tagged slightly off the map at the back of the P500 bill.

The marker for the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park printed on the P1000 bill was misplaced by around 400 kilometers, while the Batanes islands are apparently not included in all the bills.

According to him, space constraits were the reason behind the otherwise exact mapping, and for a purpose the artist did not include all the country's 7,107 islands in the map.

“400 kilometers is too short a distance to be represented accurately in that map of Tubbataha,” he reportedly said.

BSP spokeswoman Fe de la Cruz also said that the bills do not necessarily reflect the exact spots where the heritage sites are situated in the map.

“For our banknotes we used an artist's rendition of the Philippine map that by virtue of space and aesthetics does not reflect all of our islands and the precise coordinates of each site," ABS-CBN quoted de la Cruz as saying.

New generation banknotes

In 2009, the central bank announced that it was thinking of changing the looks of the country's legal tenders as a move to deter counterfeiters.

BSP governor Armando Tetangco Jr. initially disclosed in January this year that the new banknotes would feature the country's natural wonders.

Then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, received the final designs of the new legal tender in April for her approval.

Last December 16, BSP officials, together with President Benigno Aquino III, launched the new bank notes which took the monetary board some three years to conceptualize, design, and print.

All the denominations, including P20, P50, P100, P200, P500 and P1000 feature a new design from front to back, but are similar in color to that of the present bills which will be out of value three years from now.

The new generation banknotes are due to be released into public use before the month ends.

Major mistake

Aside from mapping inaccuracies, the monetary board face criticism regarding the wrong color of the blue-naped parrot featured on the reverse side of the P500 bill.

The rare bird was reportedly depicted having a yellow beak instead of a red one, while its tail feathers were printed in green instead of yellow. Gunigundo said that it could be a printing error.

Jon Villasper, a member of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines who is also a cartographer, remarked that the money designers committed a major mistake.

“Yes, they have made a very big booboo on the parrot,” Villasper reportedly said. He also mentioned the misplacement of the Tubbataha reef and the non-inclusion of Batanes in the map.

Some have even called for scrapping of the new paper bills, after finding out the errors in design.

“Just like scrapping the 'Pilipinas Kay Ganda' (Philippines What a Beauty) slogan, let's scrap the new peso notes as well,” Inquirer quoted lawyer Ghelynne Avril del Rosario as saying.

Meanwhile at Twitter, users remain expectant about the eventual circulation of the new bills. For instance, @iloveoskeeg and @xXxaikaxXx posted that they are “so excited” for the release of the newly designed bills.

A certain @callmeJUSTINE appreciated the new look of the bills. “Wow! The new designs of Philippine Money was so cool! :D The colors are so bright! :D”