Philippine peso bills

Philippine peso bills are issued by the Central Bank of the Philippines for circulation in the Philippines. The smallest amount of legal tender is five pesos and the largest is 1000 pesos. The front side of each bill features prominent people in the country's history while the reverse side depicts landmarks and events in history.

Bill descriptions

10 pesos

The front side of the ten-peso bill features Apolinario Mabini on the left and Andres Bonifacio on the right. Both were members of the Katipunan, a secret society established by Bonifacio to fight the Spanish colonial government. Mabini was the society's respected adviser eventhough he was a cripple. Depicted on the right side is one of the flags of the Katipunan (see Flags of the Philippine Revolution), the Kartilya ng Katipunan, and a letter written by Mabini.

The reverse side of the bill features the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan, site of the first Philippine Congress and where the Malolos Constitution was drafted. The right portion depicts the initiation rites of the Katipunan. Members accepted into the society had to sign their name on the society's roster using their own blood.

Before 1998, the ten-peso bill only depicted Mabini and the Barasoain Church.

20 pesos

The front side of the 20-peso bill features Manuel L. Quezon, president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. The commonwealth was the transitional government before the Philippines would have been granted independence from the United States. Along the right side of the bill are the seal of the commonwealth, and two of Quezon's notable accomplishments. The first is Wikang Pambansa, which is Tagalog for "national language". In 1937, the National Language Institute was founded to establish a single national language for the Philippines. This eventually became the Filipino language, which was largely based on Tagalog. The second was the Saligang Batas 1935 or the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. This was the first real constitution that was nationally effected and large parts of it survive in the current constitution.

The reverse side of the 20-peso bill depicts the Malacañang Palace, the residence of the President of the Philippines, along the banks of the Pasig River.

50 pesos

Depicted on the front side of the fifty-peso is Sergio Osmeña, the second president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. He served as president from 1944, after Quezon's death, to 1946, when the United States granted the Philippines' independence.

The National Museum is featured on the reverse side of the bill. This building used to be the old Executive House building during the American period and was labeled as such in the fifty-pero bill until recently.

100 pesos

The front side of the 100-peso bill features Manuel Roxas, the first president of the independent Philippine Republic. This independence is shown at the right side where the Philippine flag was raised and the American Stars and Stripes is lowered on July 4 1946.

THe reverse side of the bill depicts the Manila compound of the Central Bank of the Philippines.

The 100-peso bill is the smallest-valued bill to have the new security features implemented in recent years. But before the advent of the new security features, the 100-peso bill is interesting for having other security features. On the front side is a barely visible "100" logo above the signatures of the president and the Central Bank governor. This logo is best seen on crisp new 100-peso bills. On the reverse side, the top row of windows of the main building has the words "Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas" running the whole length.