The Philippines: First National Heroes Coinage, 1967 to 1974

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Map of the Philippines.

From Wikipedia:

The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It consists of about 7,640 islands and covers an area of 300,000 km2 (120,000 square miles). As of 2020 it had a population of around 109 million people, making it the world's twelfth-most populous country. The Philippines is a multinational state, with diverse ethnicities and cultures throughout its islands. Manila is the nation's capital, while the largest city is Quezon City.

Negritos, some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Adoption of animism, Hinduism and Islam established island-kingdoms called Kedatuans, Rajahnates and Sultanates. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement through Mexico, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. During this time, Catholicism became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade.

In 1896 the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory, which they maintained until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos by the People Power Revolution.

The Philippines is considered to be an emerging market and a newly industrialized country. It has an economy transitioning from being based on agriculture to being based more on services and manufacturing.

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Coat of arms of the Philippines.

From Wikipedia:

The coat of arms of the Philippines features the eight-rayed sun of the Philippines with each ray representing the eight provinces (Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Manila, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Tarlac) which were placed under martial law by Governor-General Ramón Blanco during the Philippine Revolution, and the three five-pointed stars representing the three major island groups of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

On the blue field on the dexter side is the North American bald eagle of the United States, and on the red field on the sinister side is the lion rampant of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of León of Spain, both representing the country's colonial past.

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Flag of the Philippines.

From Wikipedia:

The national flag of the Philippines is a horizontal bicolor flag with equal bands of royal blue and crimson red, with a white equilateral triangle at the hoist. In the center of the triangle is a golden-yellow sun with eight primary rays, each representing a province. At each vertex of the triangle is a five-pointed, golden-yellow star, each of which represents one of the country's three main island groups: Luzon, the Visayas (though originally referring to the island of Panay) and Mindanao. The white triangle at the flag represents liberty, equality, and fraternity. A unique feature of this flag is its usage to indicate a state of war if it is displayed with the red side on top, which is effectively achieved by flipping the flag upside-down.

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DESIGN SERIES OF 1967

From Wikipedia:

After the granting of independence to the Philippines in 1946, no coins were minted for the Philippine Republic until 1958, other than a small silver commemorative issue in 1947 to honor General Douglas MacArthur.

In 1958 the 20 centavos coin was replaced with a 25 centavos coin. All coins were resized to be the same diameter as their US equivalents, albeit in more base metals, other than the centavo. The same seated man with anvil and volcano or standing liberty with anvil and volcano designs were retained for the obverses, while the seal of the Central Bank of the Philippines dominated the reverse. These coins were minted by the Philadelphia Mint from 1958 through 1963, and then by the Royal Mint in England and the Vereinigte Deutsche Metallweke in West Germany in 1965 (dated 1964) and 1966. In view of all subsequent issues using the Tagalog language, this coinage is often referred to as the English Series since it uses the English language.

In 1967 a new currency and design series was issued. A piso was equal to 100 sentimos. The language used on the coins was Tagalog. For the first time, the now familiar national heroes were featured on the reverse of the coinage.

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Philippines, 1 sentimo, 1967.

The 1 sentimo coin was made of aluminium-magnesium.

It weighed a half gram and had a diameter of 15.25 mm.


The common obverse of the coins showed the coat of arms and the year.

Below you see the obverse of the 1 sentimo coin.

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Philippines, 1 sentimo, 1967.

The reverse design of the 1 sentimo coin features Lapu-Lapu, who was male.

From Wikipedia:

Lapu-Lapu was a ruler of Mactan in Visayas. Modern Filipino society regards him as the first Filipino hero because he was the first native to resist Spanish colonization. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where he and his soldiers defeated Ferdinand Magellan. The battle ended up in the killing of Magellan and the end of his expedition, and it delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years, until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564. Monuments to Lapu-Lapu have been built in Manila and Cebu, while the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection use his image.

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Philippines, 5 sentimos, 1967.

The 5 sentimos coin was made of brass.

It weighed 2.5 grams and had a diameter of 18.6 mm.

The reverse featured Melchora Aquino de Ramos.

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Melchora Aquino de Ramos.

From Wikipedia:

Melchora Aquino (1812–1919) was a Filipina revolutionary who became known as "Tandang Sora" ("Elder Sora") because of her age. She is also known as the "Grand Woman of the Revolution" and the "Mother of Balintawak" for her contributions to the struggle against the Spanish.

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Philippines, 10 sentimos, 1972.

The 10 sentimos coin was made of nickel-brass.

It weighed 2 grams and had a diameter of 17.85 mm.

The reverse featured Francisco Baltasar.

From Wikipedia:

Francisco Baltazar (born Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz; 1788–1862), also known as Francisco Balagtas, was a prominent Filipino poet. He is widely considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic, Florante at Laura, is regarded as his defining work.

The name "Baltazar", sometimes misconstrued as a pen name, was a legal surname Balagtas adopted after the 1849 edict of Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, which mandated that the native population adopt standard Spanish surnames instead of native ones.

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Philippines, 25 sentimos, 1967.

The 25 sentimos coin was made of nickel-brass.

It weighed 4 grams and had a diameter of 21 mm.

The reverse featured Juan Luna.

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Juan Luna.

From Wikipedia:

Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 – December 7, 1899), better known as Juan Luna, was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.

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Philippines, 50 sentimos, 1967.

The 50 sentimos coin was made of nickel-brass.

It weighed 8 grams and had a diameter of 27.5 mm.

The reverse featured Marcelo H. del Pilar.

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Marcelo H. del Pilar.

From Wikipedia:

Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán (born Marcelo Hilario y Gatmaytán; 1850–1896), better known by his pen name Plaridel, was a Filipino writer, lawyer, journalist, and freemason. Del Pilar, along with José Rizal and Graciano López Jaena, became known as the leaders of the Reform Movement in Spain.

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Philippines, 1 piso, 1972.

In 1972 a 1 piso coin was added to the series.

The 1 piso coin was made of nickel-brass.

It weighed 14.45 grams and had a diameter of 33 mm.

The reverse featured José Rizal.

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José Rizal.

From Wikipedia:

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, widely known as José Rizal; 1861 – 1896), was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.

He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after the Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine independence.