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Where are Philippine commemoratives
minted? Many
Philippine commemorative coins — including most of the gold and silver pieces
issued thus far — are produced by foreign mints on behalf of the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas. From the
mid-1970s to the early 1980s, the Franklin Mint (a well-known private firm
based in Pennsylvania, USA) had a virtual monopoly on commemoratives approved
by the Central Bank, striking dozens of gold and silver pieces in both proof
and uncirculated condition for the Marcos government. In recent years, the BSP has engaged the
services of other major world mints to produce gold and silver coins on its
behalf. The Monnaie de Paris (France),
Royal Mint (UK), and the Mint of Finland are just some of the companies that
have been authorised to strike Philippine commemoratives. The
BSP’s power to delegate the actual minting of commemorative coins to foreign
firms was conferred upon it in Republic Act 7653, which states that The Monetary Board [a part of the BSP] shall prescribe the amounts of notes and coins to be printed and
minted . . . and the conditions to which the printing of notes and the
minting of coins shall be subject. The
Monetary Board shall have the
authority to contract institutions, mints or firms for such operations. (Chapter
II, Article II, Section 54) [boldface mine] Of
course, the BSP’s own Mint and Refinery Operations Department — located in
Quezon City, near Manila — has also been called upon to produce
commemoratives for the Philippine government.
Examples of its recent work include the silver proof coins struck in
1994 to honour the 50th anniversary of General MacArthur’s Leyte landings, as
well as a commemorative medal issued in 1995 on the occasion of Pope John
Paul II’s visit to the Philippines. The
Mint and Refinery Operations Department manufactures commemoratives in its
Security Plant Complex (SPC), a state-of-the-art facility that combines coin
minting, gold refining and banknote/security printing operations in a single
location. Established in 1978 with an
initial annual production capacity of 400 million banknotes and 400 million
coins, the SPC has been upgraded to churn out over 1 billion banknotes and
1.6 billion coins every year, vastly reducing the Philippines’ dependence on
imported coins and notes. Back to
Philippine Commemorative Coins: A Brief
Introduction. |
