The Philippine Government, together with the Bangko Sentral, recently issued a new 500 peso banknote as part of a major redesign of banknotes and coins to enhance security features and improve durability. The new note designs features famous Filipinos and iconic natural wonders. The reverse side of the 500 peso note shows New7 Wonders of Nature finalist, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River. The obverse side features former Philippine President Corazon Aquino and her late husband, Benigno.
“Hopefully, the honour of having our underground river on the new 500 peso bill would further boost our chances at the New7Wonders of Nature contest,” said Edward Hagedorn, Mayor of Manila. The Puerto Princesa Underground River stretches 8.2 kilometres and is one of the world’s longest subterranean rivers.
The peso (Filipino: piso) is the currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 centavos (Spanish) or sentimo (Filipino). Before 1967, the language used on the banknotes and coins was English and so “peso” was the name used. The language was then changed to Pilipino (the name of the Filipino language then) and the currency as written on the banknotes and coins is piso.