Mar Roxas Slams Duterte, BSP for ‘Faceless’ P100 Bills Mistake

Losing presidential candidate and former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas criticized President Rodrigo Duterte and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the defective P100 bills with the face of the late President Manuel Roxas left out. This is despite the fact that the BSP said that the P100 bills without the face were due to machine error.



Last Monday, December 25, Christmas Day, Facebook user Earla Anne Yehey posted a photo of the faceless P100 bills she withdrew from an automated teller machine (ATM) of a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branch in Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City. Her post went viral, and was reported in various TV news programs.

Aside from the missing face of President Roxas on the faceless P100 bills, the word “Republika” and the letter “n” in the word “ng” in the country’s name are also missing. In a televised press conference, BSP Managing Director Carlyn Pangilinan admitted the mistake of the BSP, and apologized to the public for the inconvenience.

“Having found these to be issued by the BSP, an inquiry was made into the printing-machine error that caused it,” Pangilinan said, adding that the central bank has already recovered 19 out of the 33 pieces of the misprinted P100 bills. Nevertheless, she said that the incident was an “isolated one,” and that they were printed using a new printer.

According to Pangilinan, the troubled printer was acquired only last month, and that BSP has already informed its supplier about the problem. She also appealed to those individuals who got the faceless money to go to BSP so that they will be replaced. Nevertheless, she said they will prevent holders who want to keep them as souvenirs.

Meanwhile, Mar Roxas is not happy with the mistake of the BSP involving the faceless P100 bills. In an ambush interview this Friday, the 2016 election Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate suggested that the incident is likely to be politically motivated. He is in the Opposition party, and the late President Manuel Roxas is his grandfather.



“Bakit naman nila binsatos ang lolo ko? Wala naman siyang kasalanan sa kanila a. Tapos nataon pa na Pasko kung kelan maraming magwi withdraw ng pera. Isolated case nga ba o gusto lang nila i-divert ang isip ng mga tao, para hindi mapansin ang maraming isyu ngayon laban sa pamilya niya?” Mar Roxas told reporters.

Contributed by Renato Pasayao