MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has in its vault five million pieces of 2,000-piso “Erap” banknotes with a face value of P10 billion that the central bank was thinking of either circulating or shredding.

Based on a memo submitted to the Monetary Board, there were two proposals on the disposition of the unissued “New Millennium” notes, more commonly known in BSP circles as the Erap notes.

One option was to issue the 2,000-piso as legal tender circulation notes, or shred all 99 boxes containing 4.95 million pieces, but retain one box with 50,000 which would be demonetize for “historical, educational, numismatic and other purposes.”

In the memo, if destroying the Erap notes was approved, a representative from the Commission on Audit would come witness the shredding.

The BSP currently sells a larger version of the banknotes as centennial commemorative notes, which were printed in 2000 to an outsource printer at the time when BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. was the deputy governor in charge of the currency management sub-sector.

The 2,000-piso notes were included in the BSP Statement of Unissued Currency as of April this year and also part of the audited currency issue last August.

The currency management committee has reported a total of 1.085 billion pieces of various denominations of banknotes that include 99 boxes of the Erap notes.

The banknotes, which feature the inauguration of President Joseph Estrada at Barasoain Church in Bulacan on June 10, 1998 and the scroll of the 1898 Malolos Constitution, was printed in 2000. The plan was to circulate the notes in 2001 but impeachment hearings were already underway and President Estrada was eventually ousted from office that year.

A report from the BSP’s Banknotes and Securities Printing Department (BSPD) last April said that they have 770 boxes of 1000-piso, 8,312 boxes of 500-piso, 1,233 boxes of 200-piso and 2,957 boxes of 100-piso unissued banknotes.

BSPD Director Nestor B. Solanio said in his updated report that the delivery of the newly printed banknotes in various denominates was scheduled for the third and fourth quarters this year.

The central bank was planning of issuing new designed banknotes by 2012 and would start demonetizing some coins next year. British banknotes printer De La Rue PLC would make the template for the new designs of Philippine currency while the printing of new bills would be bid out.