BPI to 'faceless' money emphasizes not a security concern

Alliah Zain Delgado and Anthony Andres | January 9, 2018

A post from Facebook went viral due to the disappearance of the face of President Manuel Roxas at 100-peso bill. It was withdrawn at Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) ATM Machine.

Earla Anne Yehey said that she withdrew four 100-peso bill around 2:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Day at Eastwood, Quezon City and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) advised her to approach the said bank where the withdrawal was made.

BPI responded and verified the issue immediately. The viral post has drawn 24,000 reactions and 19,000 shares and still counting.

No Face Value

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that the misprint was not a security concern since they installed last month new printing machines that are "highly powered and top-level".

BSP Managing Director for Currency Management Carly Pangilinan said that the case of faceless money has been identified and the mechanical issues are already resolved.

The central bank said the glitch machine printed only 33 pieces of 100 peso bills equivalent to 0.00009% of the whole printed batch. Pangilinan considered the machine problem as "birth pains".

For keeps

Officials called those who received the defective bills and asked them to return it to BSP. Rest assured the receiver will be repaid with the same amount of their misprinted bill.

As per Earla Anne, some collectors presented interest and offered her for the rare faceless money. She also added that she would only return one 100 peso bill to BPI for further investigation and the rest will be kept for as a souvenir.