Bank officials debunk claims of coin shortage

DUMAGUETE CITYmm — An official of  the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other banking officials said there is no truth to reports that there is now a shortage of coins in the country.

BSP-Dumaguete senior resident specialist Gregorio Baccay III, in a media forum this week, said there is only an “artificial shortage” due to non-circulation, which he said may be due to hoarding, such as keeping coins in piggy banks, on the altars, in homes or in business establishments, and that even children ignore coins they found in the streets.

Baccay cautioned the public against hoarding of coins, as the anti-coin hoarding bill is now pending in Congress, and he believed this will be pursued for enactment this year. The BSP is now urging the public to circulate existing coins as minting additional coins is more expensive for the government.

The BSP, as of June last year, produced 21.6344 billion coins valued at P24.73 billion with an average minting cost of P2.07 each. The Philippine currency coin denominations are one, five, 10 and 25 sentimo (centavo) and one, five and 10 piso (peso). The minting for a sentimo coin, for example, would cost P1.1264 per unit, Baccay said.

Baccay said it is punishable by law if an establishment or a person rejects coins for purchases and other financial transactions. Banks were also mandated to accept coins for deposit or, in some cases, to have them exchanged for banknotes for actual value.

Negros Oriental Bankers Association president, Elmer Teves of East West Banking Corporation, said although banks are obliged to accept deposits of all kinds of coins, he requested the public to sort these out first to avoid the inconvenience of waiting too long inside the bank for the teller to count. If not sorted out, banks will still accept assorted coins but could not be immediately attended to.

On coins presently in the hands of swertres operators, Teves said banks are mandated, under the Anti-Money Laundering Law, to ask questions about the source of the coins, especially if these are in bulk, to erase doubts on their origin from illegal activities.

During the forum, it was also noted that some coins have been kept in the Automatic Tubig Machines and Internet cafes.

Baccay also clarified that candies are not considered legal tender, citing reports that many business establishments would give candies as change to clients’ money, claiming they lack coins. He said using candies as change violates the Consumer Act of the Philippines, although he admitted it can be done if the customer allows it.

Meanwhile, Baccay refuted claims that the 1974’s P10-coin has gold component, declaring that in the history of minting, each coin is made of nickel, brass or copper-plated steel. He explained that, sometime in the 1970s, certain coins have high content of metals because the cost of metal at the time was very cheap, but definitely it was not gold.

Baccay said the inner disc of the P10 coin is made of aluminum-bronze alloy (92 percent copper, six percent aluminum and two percent nickel).

In another development, Baccay told the local media that, of the more than 122 cities all over the country, only one is without a bank, and that is Canlaon City in Negros Oriental. (FREEMAN)