Senator Robinhood Padilla has asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to bring back Philippine heroes feature in peso bills.
“To make sure we will not forget our debt of gratitude to them, it is proper that the BSP feature Philippine heroes in our peso bills,” Padilla said.
Padilla said it is important to continuously educate the people on Philippine heroes by using money, which all Filipinos – regardless of age or gender – regularly see every day.
“From what I know, we are exposed to money every day, regardless of age or gender. It is very important that we always remember who we owe our freedom to. It is very important we know who our heroes are,” he said at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial
Institutions and Currencies.
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan explained the designs of Philippine currency notes are “cyclical,” and that they used heroes as the theme some years back.
At present, the BSP uses the Philippine Eagle which Tangonan said is an “endangered indigenous species that we are all proud of.”
Tangonan added they can go back to using heroes as the theme of our currency notes, noting that the design features “Filipino people and its culture.”
Padilla noted it is sad that many Filipino youths now do not know who Filipino heroes are. He earlier cited viral videos showing youths not knowing who Gomburza (refers to the three Filipino Catholic priests—Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora) or Apolinario Mabini
are.
“Our appeal to the BSP is that after it features our endangered species on peso notes—which is also useful for our tourism—please do not remove our heroes from our bank notes,” he said.
Just recently, Padilla filed Senate Bill 451 mandating the teaching of Philippine History in the high school curriculum.
The Philippine History subject was removed from the high school curriculum in 2014 through Department of Education (DepEd) Order 20.
Padilla noted the K-12 basic education curriculum for Social Studies includes subjects such as Asian Studies and World History.
