• Today we can expect around 73 Philippine pesos to 1 GBP, or 45 pesos to 1 US $.


• The historical exchange rate is very different ! Both Spain and the United States struck coins for the Philippines for many years – to 1898 ( Spain ) and long after independence in 1946 ( United States ). Increasingly from the 1970s the Philippine Mint ( Bangko Central Pilipinas / BSP ) produced Philippines coinage.


• Until the late 1960s there were 100 centavos, and thereafter 100 sentimos, to 1 peso.


• Until the beginning of the 1960s there were around 2 pesos to 1 US $. Thereafter President Macapagal allowed the peso to float on the free currency market, and its value sank in that decade to around 6 / US $.


• After Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 the value of the peso dived to 20 / 1 US $ in a few years, and to 27 / 1 by the turn of the decade. By 2000 it had fallen to 40 / 1 US $, and then to over 50 / 1. From 2005 it strengthened overall in value.


• The size and composition of these coins reflects their value – 50 centavos from 50 years ago ( partly silver ), through 1 peso over 40 years ago, to 5 years ago. The obverse of the 1964 coin shows “ Liberty “, a standing female figure striking an anvil with a hammer, with Mount Mayon in the background. Jose Rizal features on the other two coins, and many more.





• From the late 1960s Tagalog was used on coins, which featured various Philippine national heroes.


• In 1975 a new series of coins were introduced to mark “ Ang Bagong Lipunan “ ( President Marcos’s New Society ). Such proof sets were the first to be minted since 1908. They were provided by a number of mints, including the UK Royal Mint, and the US Franklin Mint :-