The Philippines: the BSP coin series (1995-2017)

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THE PHILIPPINES: THE BSP SERIES

From Wikipedia:

In December 1995, a new set of coins and notes was issued which carried the new logo of the BSP: 5- and 1-piso and 25-, 10-, 5- and 1-sentimo, with the aim of carrying out the demonetization of all previous series on Jan 3, 1998.

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Philippines, 1 sentimo, 2002.

The 1 sentimo coin was made of copper-plated nickel.

It weighed 2 grams and had a diameter of 15.5 mm.


The obverse showed the new seal of the Central Bank of the Philippines.

BSP = Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas = Central Bank of the Philippines.

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Philippines 5 sentimo 2005.

The 5 sentimo coin was made of copper-plated nickel.

It weighed 1.9 grams and had a diameter of 15.5 mm.


The coin was round with a hole.

Presumably the hole was added because the coin had the same diameter as the 1 sentimo coin.

The hole was cleverly fitted inside the circular part of the numeral "5".

The central part of the obverse was left blank, without the design of the seal, because of the hole.

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Philippines, 10 sentimo, 2005.

The 10 sentimo coin was made of copper-plated nickel.

It weighed 2.5 grams and had a diameter of 17 mm.

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Philippines, 25 sentimo, 2011.

The 25 sentimo coin was made of brass.

It weighed 3.8 grams and had a diameter of 20 mm.

In 2003 it was replaced by a version in brass-plated steel.

The new version weighed 3.6 grams but kept the same diameter and designs.

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NOTE:  There was no 50 sentimo coin in this series.

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Philippines, 1 piso, 1999.

The 1 piso coin was made of copper-nickel.

It weighed 6.1 grams and had a diameter of 24 mm.

The obverse design featured a portrait of José Rizal.


In 2003 the 1 piso was replaced by a version in nickel-plated steel.

The new version weighed 5.3 grams but kept the same diameter and designs.


NOTE: There was no 2 piso coin in this series.

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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.

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Philippines, 5 piso, 2005.

The 5 piso coin was made of nickel-brass.

The coin was round, with a polygonal inner rim on both sides.

It weighed 7.7 grams and had a diameter of 27 mm.

The obverse design featured a portrait of Emilio Aguinaldo.

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Emilio Famy Aguinaldo, Sr.

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy; Filipino: Emilio Famy Aguinaldo, Sr. (1869 – 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, politician, and a military leader who is officially recognized as the first and the youngest President of the Philippines (1899–1901) and first president of a constitutional republic in Asia. He led Philippine forces first against Spain in the latter part of the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898), and then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine–American War (1899–1901). He was captured in Palanan, Isabela by American forces on March 23, 1901, which brought an end to his presidency.

In 1935, Aguinaldo ran unsuccessfully for president of the Philippine Commonwealth against Manuel Quezon. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, he cooperated with the new rulers, even making a radio appeal for the surrender of the American and Filipino forces on Bataan. He was arrested as a collaborator after the Americans returned but was later freed in a general amnesty and was subsequently exonerated.

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Philippines, 10 piso, 2006.

The first circulation 10 piso coin was issued in July 2001 as part of this series.

It was the country's first standard circulating bimetallic coin.

It had an aluminium-bronze centre within a copper-nickel ring.


The 10 piso coin was the highest denomination of this series.

The series was issued through to 2017.


The coin was round, with a polygonal inner rim on both sides.

It weighed 8.7 grams and had a diameter of 26.5 mm.

The obverse featured a conjoint portrait of Andrés Bonifacio and Apolinario Mabini.

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Andrés Bonifacio.

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (1863 – 1897) was a Filipino nationalist.

He was the Father of the Philippine Revolution and Filipino Nation.

He was also the first unofficial president of the Philippine archipelago.

Apolinario Mabini.

Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (1864-1903) was a Filipino revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, and statesman who served first as a legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary Government, and then as the first Prime Minister of the Philippines upon the establishment of the First Philippine Republic. He is regarded as the "utak ng himagsikan" or "brain of the revolution" and is also considered as a national hero in the Philippines. Mabini's work and thoughts on the government shaped the Philippines' fight for independence over the next century.

Two of his works, El Verdadero Decálogo (The True Decalogue, June 24, 1898) and Programa Constitucional de la República Filipina (The Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic, 1898), became instrumental in the drafting of what would eventually be known as the Malolos Constitution.

Mabini performed all his revolutionary and governmental activities despite having lost the use of both his legs to polio shortly before the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Mabini's role in Philippine history saw him confronting first Spanish colonial rule in the opening days of the Philippine Revolution, and then American colonial rule in the days of the Philippine–American War. The latter saw Mabini captured and exiled to Guam by American colonial authorities, allowed to return only two months before his eventual death in May 1903.

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