A while back, I knew a fellow who had just moved to the Philippines. Everything went very well for him regarding his move, but he had a few little funny incidents about adjusting to life here. I think that is true for all of us who move here. We have to sort of “learn the ropes” if you know what I mean, before we can settle in and just enjoy life.
Well, one day, my new friend had just been here for less than one day, and he decided to take a taxi to the mall. When he arrived at his destination, the driver told him that his fare was P103, which is what the meter said too, so everything was good. My friend had a pocket full of coins, so he decided to lighten up the load a bit by paying the entire fare with coins. He proceeded to pull out a total of 7 coins: 4 coins that were marked “25” and 3 coins that were marked “1”. Let’s see, 25 times 4 would be 100, plus 3 times 1 would take care of the “3”. So, that’s P103. Right?
Wrong
The taxi driver stood there looking at my new friend with his mouth wide open, jaw dropped. My friend couldn’t understand what the problem might be. Finally, the cabbie was able to utter the words… “Not enough”. My friend decided to give a P100 bank note instead, with the 3 peso coins. This made the driver quite happy, but left my friend confused! After my friend entered the mall and we got together there, he asked me what had happened. As I listened, I got a big smile on my face and explained it to him.
For anybody who is not already well aware of what the problem was, let me explain. Those “25” coins are not for 25 Pesos, no, they are worth 25 Sentimo, or 25 Centavos. In other words a fourth of a Peso! So, by offering 4 of the 25 coins and 3 Pesos, my friend was trying to pay just a total of 4 Pesos to cover his fare of P103. The taxi driver was understandably not too happy with that! 🙂
A simple money primer
So, today, I thought that I would offer a very simple explanation of the money, both coins and bills, available in the Philippines. Let’s have a look.
Philippine Coins
There are a total of 7 different coins currently in circulation in the Philippines. I mentioned earlier that the coin marked 25 is worth 25 Centavos or 25 Sentimo. They are both the same. The coins themselves are marked “Sentimo” although when talking most people say “centavo”. The difference is only the language. Centavo is the Spanish word for these denominations. The proper word in Filipino is “Sentimo”. In practice and usage, the amount is exactly the same. The words can be used interchangeably and would be universally understood throughout the Philippines.
Let’s have a look at the different Philippine Coins that you will see on the street. First, the denominations worth less than 1 Peso.
1 Sentimo
The smallest denomination of a coin is 1 Sentimo. These are really not seen very often, few stores have them, and they are not widely used. Can you imagine that in order to pay a paltry sum of just 1 Peso, you would need to produce 100 of these coins? No wonder they are not widely used in daily life!
5 Sentimo
The 5 Sentimo coin is worth 1 twentieth of a Peso. This is the smallest coin that is widely used in daily life, although I never use it myself. It is worth so little that I consider it only a bother and not worth carrying around in my pocket. You will receive these in your change in stores regularly. The 5 Sentimo Coin is easily recognizable as it has a hold in the middle.
10 Sentimo
The 10 Sentimo coin is worth 1 tenth of a Peso. Again, for me, in daily life this coin is fairly worthless, as it is so low in value, and I consider it a hassle to even deal with. When I get any coin worth less than a Peso, I usually just give it to kids that I see at the mall or the store, just to get rid of it and to put a smile on a child’s face. The 10 Sentimo coin falls into this category for me.
The 1, 5 and 10 Sentimo coins are all copper in color.
25 Sentimo
The 25 Sentimo coin is the lowest denomination that is brass in color. Still, to me, as it is worth less than a single Peso, it is a hassle coin, and not worth messing with. I mean, if my friend that I mentioned above wanted to pay his taxi fare with this coin (as he tried to) he would have needed more than 400 of these to pay a simple P103 taxi fare! That’s just a hassle. When you shop in stores, though, this coin is widely used in making change and such. I see them often used for paying jeepney fare as well, but other than small things like this, the 25 Sentimo is not widely used.
1 Peso Coin
Now we are getting into the meat and potatoes of Philippine Coins! The 1 Peso coin is the mainstay of Philippine life. This coin is used every single day by just about anybody living in the Philippines. For many (like me), if you are paying any bill, you just round up to the next peso and pay, not worrying about any change due that is less than a peso. The 1 Peso coin is certainly a mainstay in the life of Filipinos, it is used either as a mode of payment or part of your change for virtually every cash transaction the you will make. It is the workhorse of Philippine Money!
5 Peso Coin
Five Pesos? Now we are getting into some real money! Ha ha… just joking. But, in terms of coins, the 5 Peso is getting more substantial. The 5 Peso coin is a different color, it is a sort of brass color, although I have only rarely seen a bright and shiny 5 Peso coin, they seem to lose their shine quickly, probably because they are so commonly used in transactions, thus they get a lot of handling.
10 Peso Coin
Now we are getting into the good stuff! The 10 Peso coin is the king of coinage in the Philippines in terms of value! This is the largest value coin being minted in the Philippines at the time of writing. I am sure that it won’t be too long in the future before some larger denomination coins come out, but for now the P10 coin is the king. The P10 coin is a combination of silver and brass in color. There is an outer ring of silver, with the center core of the coin being brass in color, so it is easily identifiable.
Paper Money of the Philippines
Now, let’s look at the paper money in the Philippines. There are different styles of paper money in circulation. About 3 years ago (at the time of writing in 2014), the Philippine Government issued new bills with brighter colors and new pictures on them. Have a look at the right (click on the photo to see it larger), these are every one of the current paper denominations being issued in the Philippines.
The bills in current circulation are:
20 Pesos
This note is very widely used in every day life. It is used for bills small and large. For large purchases it is not used as the main part of the payment, but simply for the nominal amounts when you are “almost there”. Used very often for paying jeepney fare, although the drivers prefer payments using coins, especially in the morning when there are a lot of passengers and the driver is sill building up a reserve of coins to use for the day. The P20 note is orange in color.
50 Pesos
Another widely used note in the Philippines. A little more substantial than a P20 note, but still small enough that most vendors have change if you use a P50 bill to make payment. This note is red in color. Ever since the new currency was issued a few years back, I often have trouble distinguishing between the P20 and the P50 notes when just looking at the color. I have seen others make this mistake as well. The red color tends to fade a bit with use, making the orange and red colors look very similar.
100 Pesos
In terms of the amount of use, the P100 note is the king of Philippine currency! P100 notes are really the mainstay of the Philippine economy, they are used in almost any kind of situation – from paying for your jeepney ride, paying street vendors, or paying your bills. The P100 certainly must have the largest number of bills in circulation of any notes in the Philippines. The P100 is purple in color, and can be confused relatively easily with the P1,000 note.
200 Pesos
I suppose that the P200 note is kind of the “ugly duckling” of Philippine currency. I am not saying it is not a pretty note, but I call it the ugly duckling because it is not widely used. For Americans, think of the $2 bill and how widely used that is (not). The P200 bill is similar. I have noticed, though, that in recent years the P200 is being used a bit more. I kind of like them, because it is twice as much as the P100 and in a single bill. Usually, it is still small enough that vendors have change if you use one to pay, but not too big either. I believe it will continue to increase in use in the future. This bill is green in color, and easy to identify because there is no other bill that is similar in color.
500 Pesos
This bill, along with the P1,000 bill are the bills most commonly given at the banks. However, in terms of everyday use, they can be hard to spend, because smaller stores, street vendors and such just don’t usually have change if you are paying with a P500 bill, unless the amount you are paying is nearly the entire value of the bill. If you are at a large store like at a mall, or if you are paying bills, the P500 is easy to use, though. I always recommend to people that if they are at a mall store or such, pay with the largest bill you have, because that way you get smaller bills that you can use in places like sari -sari stores and such – the places that just never have enough small change. The P500 bill is gold in color, like the P200 it is easy to identify only by color because the color is unique with no other “imitators”.
1,000 Pesos
This is the King of Philippine Currency! There is no type of Philippine currency that is larger than P1,000. These are what you will generally get in most ATM transactions (but P500s too), but they can be very hard to spend, because nobody ever has change! They can be spent easily, though, in grocery stores and malls, so unload them there and get change for your daily transactions elsewhere. If you ever tried to use a P1,000 note for a Jeepney or even a taxi, you will put the driver into a frenzy trying to figure out how he can possibly make change for you!
So, this wraps up a look at the money of the Philippines. I hope that if anybody was confused on what denominations are available or used widely, this will help clear it up!
Spend wisely! If you have any large bills and are not sure what they are, feel free to send them along to me, I will be happy to spend them for you! 🙂
Unless I’m planning to make a large purchase, I get rid of the big bills as fast as I can. The bigger supermarkets and malls can make change, I’ve found, but none of the smaller places can.
That is also exactly what I do, RT. When I got the big bills at the bank, I use them wherever I can to get rid of them and get smaller bills!
Exactly. I find it more useful to get an odd amount at an ATM too. Instead of getting 10000 get 9900 and if you’re in a very rural area such as I (Bayawan City, Negros Oriental) don’t even try to purchase anything with a 1000 unless at a grocery store or pharmacy. Sometimes you’ll even run into problems with 500 bills too. But like I stated I’m in a very rural area.
Good catch, ChazWorm. I do the same if I really need a few smaller bills. I had forgotten to mention that.
I thought it was the coolest looking money I’ve ever seen , very colorful 🙂
It certainly is quite colorful, Lorne. When this new series came out, in 2010 or 2011, I kind of thought it looked like play money, maybe Monopoly money! 🙂
Lol, I bought 10,000 pesos before I went there and it was awesome I showed everyone here in Canada , is there a 10,000 p bill or no ?
No, the largest bill is P1,000, Lorne. You guys have some pretty fancy looking bills in Canada too, though!
Yeah , it is pretty cool , coins are getting fazed out tho , just loonies and toonies , are left , haha
I don’t know why but I really a like the 10 Peso Coin, to me it looks pretty interesting. It is not like anything I have seen before. I would collect a few on the way home and give them away as gifts here in the USA. Pretty cool gifts for 22-24 cents US.
That’s kinda cool, James! I agree that the P10 coin is an interesting looking coin. I am trying to recall if I have ever seen any other coin that is two colors like that, I don’t remember seeing any others.
Bob: Actually, two metal coins are pretty common. Off the top of my head: Mexico (I think 10 Peso), Turkey (2 Lira), Euro (2 Euro), Thailand (10 Baht… Since I go to Thailand so often and is exactly the same size as the Philippine coin, I often mix these up), Hong Kong ($10)
There are probably more countries that use this type.
Thanks, John. Now that you mention it, I recall that the Euro fits the criteria.
I found bi-metallic coins from 9 different countries in my collection. All are fairly recent dates.
Canada 2 Dollars 1996
Czech Republic 50 Korona 1993
England 2 L 1999 (L is the symbol for pound)
France 10 Frank 19889
Hungary 100 Florints 1997
Israel 10 Agora date unknown
Italy 500 Lira 1986 1991 1997
Mexico 1 Peso 2003
Netherlands 1 Euro 2001
2 Euro 1999+
Cool, Dick. I think they are not too common, though.
The 10-peso coin has two different metals. I haven’t seen that in other currencies either. I can’t remember which coin it is, but the one with wavy edge used to annoy me, kind of like the one with a hole in it (which always seems to get stuck in pocket threads).
For me, those 5 centavo coins with the holes in them are not even worth the effort of putting them in my pocket! Ha ha..
Bob,
Maybe the Philippines should consider getting rid of the centavos. I see them on the ground everywhereas they have little value. Also once tried to pay for groceries with a 500p note at a Robinsons Supermarket and they could not provide change. Was really surprised.
Good morning, PapaDuck. That also surprises me. Usually a big store like Robinson’s has plenty of change!
I know that the BSP was going to phase the centavos out and the charities in the country complained… a lot of their revenue comes from the small coins
Interesting.
Nice to know Bob
Good story Bob! My first trip to Cebu children would come up to me, put there hand out and say “quarta”. Being naive I though they want quarter so I would hand them an American quarter. You can imagine the puzzled look the children would get on there face trying to figure out what I had given them. Now I know better than to give any money to children on the street.
Thank you, Larry, I am happy that you found the article useful. By the way, just an FYI, the word for money is spelled kwarta. Easy mistake to make, though. 🙂
Must be a cebuano thing, “kwarta”. My wife’s family is originally from Tacloban (waray) and they used “pera” just like in Tagalog.
Of course, in Olongapo, kids hold out their hands and say “peso”.
Yes, but since Larry mentioned ‘quarta’ while talking about money, it is a pretty good bet that he was using the bisaya word for money, which is kwarta.
Yep, my wife just corrected me.
Walay problema, RT.
My visian needs a lot of work.
Don’t worry, Larry, mine too, and I am supposed to be fluent! 🙂
Money in the Philippines is always good for cheap entertainment. I live off a busy street that is lined with sari-sari stores, eateries, hair salons and just about every other mom and pop business you can imagine. Its a hoot on pay days to watch the owners kids run back and forth amongst the stores with a P1000 bill clutched in their hands looking for change. Like Bob said, when I exchange our weekly allowance of USD I always, always ask for P500 and smaller. Just makes life a bit easier in the long run. 🙂
You sure are right on that, Scott. Anytime that people get paid or get a fairly large amount of money, it is always a rush to turn it into smaller denomination! A real part of honest Philippine life!
I did exactly the same thing when I tried to pay the Pizza Delivery man in Ozamiz a few weeks ago ,, the lighting in my hotel room wasn’t great and I was sure they were 25 p coins,,, I finished up paying it with a 1000 p note and he brought me back change ,, 🙂
We all had a bit of a laugh about it the next day,, 🙂
That is truly funny, Russell! I had not heard of anybody mistaking a 25 centavo (sentimo) coin for P25 before, but in the span of a week, you are now the second one! I guess it is more common than I had thought! Hope you enjoyed the pizza!
Glad you found it useful, Michael Boo.
Hi Bob – That’s funny trying to pay 4 php, thinking it’s 103. He he. They need to get rid of anything less than a peso, they are annoying little coins.
Yeah, my friend and I had a good laugh after I explained the value of the different coins to him! 🙂
I agree – just get rid of the coins that are below P1. It probably costs more to make them than they are worth!
I guess I have been here a while now. I was in the US the past two weeks and thought the change I received was too small, even the quarters and couldnt make correct change. Am too used to the 1,5 and 10 peso coins which are huge compared to US coins.
I’m afraid that I am with you, Don. If I went to the States I would feel the same, because I feel that the P5 and P10 coins are just “normal size”. I had not thought about it that a quarter is much smaller! 🙂
Hi Bob,
Seems to me that everything is pretty much rounded off. I never carry anything under a peso coin because its a hassle for everyone. I really like the ten peso coin because it’s easy to spot in my coin purse. Sometimes if you hand a restaurant or store clerk a large bill they will ask if you have smaller. If you say no they ask for a different bill with a coin amount. They do the math for me which is great.
I hate to break a thousand peso bill though, because it always seems to disappear so quickly afterwards.
You are so right, Queenie, once you break a 1k note it is gone in an instant. Fairly true for a P500 note as well.
500 pesos is equal to about 11 and 1/2 bucks and 1000 pesos is about $23. I’m in the US now and I can tell you, $20 doesn’t buy much anymore. After being away for 7 years, I was sticker-shocked.
I believe you RT. I have heard the same from multiple people.
I just got back from the U S….Fruit is $4.00 a pound 4 steaks (Rib Eyes) in a package $40.00 plus… Candy Bars $1.29 each was shell shocked almost everything has Doubled or Tripled in 7 years … no wage increase … something is going to POP
Absolutely unbelievable!
Also I did not buy Bell Peppers here because they were 75 cents each … which I thought was too high…….When I got to the U S they were $1.50 each…Figure that out….On sale $1.00 each small
It does not surprise me that vegetables, or anything of that nature, is much higher in the USA than the Philippines. I would not consider 75 cents to be too much for a bell pepper, but that is just my opinion.
I was cashing in some 100 dollar bills at the money changer that I had just withdrawn from the bank. The cashier takes out one and says to me this is an old 100 dollar bill don’t think I can take this one. But she did and started counting out my exchange in P500. When all at once I stopped here and said “Hey this is an old P500 I don’t think I should accept this one”, Then we both laughed.
I’ve never understood why torn or frayed US money gets rejected when it’s perfectly fine to use it in the US. Can someone enlighten me?
Good story, Budrick Bias. When I pay with a large bill, if they hold the bill up to the light to check the watermark, I always do the same to the small bills. That gets a laugh.
Is there a cut off date for the former style paper currency ? On my last 2 visits I tried to use the older currency so my ” left over for next visit ” paper bills would be the newer ones. I still have a few of the older ones though.
On my earlier visits I remember using a lot of 20 and 50 peso bills, especially with the taxis. Seems like on the last visit and maybe the one before it seemed like I was using more 100 and 500 notes than the 50’s and 20’s.
My favorite places for having larger bills made smaller is to go into places like Jollibee, Chow King, etc, about an hour after the lunch crowd leaves. Plenty of bills of probably all sizes in the registers from the lunch crowd. Buy a few burgers and a beverage and pay with a 1000 peso note, no problem.
You’ve got the process down for turning large bills into small ones, Bob. I wonder how much business is generated just by people wanting smaller bills?
As far as I know the old style bills will still be good ad long as they are in circulation. They will just die a natural death.
Ehm. .its really looking good and colorfull our money in Ph.but the quality of paper now they use is poor its easily damaged specially when it get wet,unlike old money before that.
Yes, I have to agree on that, Whmel. The newer money does seem to be on lower quality paper.
I change my 1000 peso bills at the expressway toll gates. They always have change and don’t complain.
Great idea, Magnus. We don’t have any toll roads in Mindanao, so no such opportunity here! We’ll stick with the gas stations and malls! 🙂
TOLL ROADS!?!
The national highway that runs by my house….You drive it anywhere near 100 (60mph) you will not be long of this Earth. It takes me 2 hours to get to Dumaguete. I was unaware they had toll roads here. It is very rural here (I love it..no toll roads in Kentucky either).
I am currently enjoying quality daily straight razor shaves. At .47 why not? At first I was tipping a 5p coin on my 20p shave.
Is that insulting?
My wife acted like it was but I careth not.
I finally found a barber that does it right but to “do it right” it nearly takes an hour. If some poor bastard has to work on my ugly face for an hour that is a 50p charge ($1.16) I don’t care what the regular charge is.
That leads me to another subject. You have to change your financial frame of mind here. You are not in the US. $1 here means something.
There are a number of toll roads in Manila, Chaz. Nothing outside that area that I am aware of, though.
Hi Bob!
I can’t tell a lie! Thank God I never tried paying a Taxi Driver like that! haha Okay, it was ME! Put away the drills, truth syrum, bright light, and brass knuckles folks……….
It was in fact me. I’m the culprit. haha BUT….You should have seen the look on the drivers face. It was just like my coins – PRICELESS.
Bill
LOL Bill, I figured it was you when Bob said, “Well, one day, my new friend had just been here for less than one day, and he decided to take a taxi to the mall.”
So how goes it to be back on Philippine soil but under different circumstances? I said “different circumstances” because I read somewhere that you were in Subic in the 80s as a U.S. Marine. Btw, I wonder if you knew two Marines of Filipino descent at the Subic Naval Base whose last names were like mine. They were my brothers who were stationed there at one time or another during the 80s and 90s.
Moving on now to a relevant question, did you find the answer to the very first question you asked in EAM0001 when you visited the mall upon your arrival in Davao? 🙂
Sorry for the late reply John. Yes, everything worked out fine. Present date is September 4th, 2014 and this country continues to “take me to school”. haha
I’ve been sicker than a dog for a couple of weeks during my brief stay.
Ha ha.. I was trying to preserve your anonymity, Bill! 🙂 Thanks for a good article!
The times I have visited the Philippines are few and far between that whenever I am there the value of the pesos has no meaning to me unless I know its equivalent to the U.S. dollar. Without knowing the dollar equivalent of the price of a merchandise, I would not know if I want to buy it or not. I carry a calculator in my pocket at all times when in the Philippines.
I understand that, John. Myself, I am somewhere stuck in the middle. I can think in Pesos easily after 15 years here, but my business is done in dollars for the most part, which keeps my thinking in dollars as well! 🙂
Hi guys,
Bob, a quick question… the first two times I came to the Phil’s, in 2003 and 2005, there was also a P10 paper note, but didn’t see it around in 2009 and this year, as the coin was more popular, and it seems that it has faded out of circulation.
Also, during my first visit, I got to see a 5p papernote, I think only twice or thrice, the coins were more prevailant.
If anyone is interested, here is a good PDF booklet:
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/downloads/know%20your%20currency.PDF
I beleive many would find it useful.
Have a nice day guys.
Hi Boris – They no longer make a P10 note, they stopped nearly 10 years ago. That is why you are not seeing it in circulation. It has been many years since a P5 note was made.