In 1983 the Philippines issued a new design series. It was unusual in that it had a different design on each obverse and reverse. The obverse designs were devoted to the country's heroes, whilst the reverse designs depicted the nation's flora and fauna.
1 sentimo, aluminium. Lapu-Lapu.
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.
5 sentimo, aluminium.
Melchora Aquino de Ramos (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.
10 sentimo, aluminium.
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.
25 sentimo, brass.
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.
50 sentimo, copper-nickel.
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.
1 piso, copper-nickel.
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.
2 piso, copper-nickel.
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (1863 – 1897) was a Filipino nationalist, revolutionary leader (the Father of the Philippine Revolution and Filipino Nation), and the first unofficial president of the Philippine archipelago.
1 sentimo, aluminium.
A sea snail (Voluta imperialis), one of the species indigenous to the Philippines.
5 sentimo, aluminium. Waling-Waling orchid.
Vanda sanderiana is a flower of the orchid family. It is commonly called Waling-waling in the Philippines and is also called Sander's Vanda, after Henry Frederick Conrad Sander, a noted orchidologist. The orchid is considered to be the "Queen of Philippine flowers".
10 sentimo, aluminium.
The dwarf pygmy goby or Philippine goby (Pandaka pygmaea) is a tropical species of fish in the family Gobiidae, from brackish water and mangrove areas in Southeast Asia. It is one of the smallest fish species in the world. Males reach maturity at a standard length of 0.9 cm (0.35 in) and can reach up to 1.1 cm (0.43 in) in standard length, while the females can grow up to 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) in total length. Adults weight around 4 milligrams (0.00015 oz).
25 sentimo, brass.
Graphium idaeoides is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is endemic to the Philippines.
Monkey-eating eagle.jpg
Philippines 50s 1988~.jpg
50 sentimo, copper-nickel.
The Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is an eagle of the family Accipitridae, endemic to forests in the Philippines. It has red coloured plumage, and a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 cm (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length and weighs 4.7 to 8.0 kg (10.4 to 17.6 lb).
It is considered the largest of the extant eagles in the world in terms of length and wing surface, with Steller's sea eagle and the harpy eagle being larger in terms of weight and bulk. Among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird. It is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat resulting from deforestation in most of its range.
1 piso, copper-nickel.
The tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (Bubalus mindorensis) is a small hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, however, to have once also thrived on the larger island of Luzon. The tamaraw was originally found all over Mindoro, from sea level up to the mountains (2000 meters above sea level), but because of human habitation, hunting, and logging, it is now restricted to only a few remote grassy plains and is now an endangered species. Contrary to common belief and past classification, the tamaraw is not a subspecies of the local carabao, which is only slightly larger, or the common water buffalo.
(http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=122507)
2 piso, copper-nickel. Coconut palm tree.
In 1991:
1] The 25 sentimo coin was reduced from 3.9 g and 21 mm to 2.24 g and 16.6 mm.
2] The 50 sentimo coin was reduced from 6 g and 25 mm to 3 g and 18 mm. Additionally it was now made of brass instead of copper-nickel.
3] The 1 piso coin was reduced from 9.5 g and 28.5 mm to 4 g and 21.6 mm. Additionally it was now made in stainless steel instead of copper-nickel.
4] The 2 piso coin was reduced from 12 g and 31 mm to 5 g and 23.5 mm. Additionally it was now made in stainless steel instead of copper-nickel, and it was also now round instead of 10-sided.
5] A nickel-brass 5 piso coin was introduced in 1991. It weighed 9.54 g and was 25.5 mm in diameter.
The round 2 piso coin of 1991 to 1994.
The 5 piso coin of 1991 to 1994.
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.
From Wikipedia:
Pterocarpus indicus (commonly known as Amboyna wood, Malay padauk, Papua New Guinea rosewood, Philippine mahogany, Andaman redwood, Burmese rosewood, narra or Pashu padauk) is a species of Pterocarpus native to southeastern Asia, northern Australasia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, in Cambodia, southernmost China, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Pterocarpus indicus was one of two species (the other being Eysenhardtia polystacha) used as a source for the 16th- to 18th-century traditional diuretic known as lignum nephriticum.
Many populations of Pterocarpus indicus are seriously threatened. It is extinct in Vietnam and possibly in Sri Lanka and Peninsular Malaysia. It is the national tree of the Philippines.
I remember that there were one or two errors among the earlier coins. These had to do with the misspelling of the scientific names. Perhaps somebody can post a reminder of what exactly they were.
In 2004 I discovered one of the designers of these beautiful coins online, so I emailed him, and here is his reply.
Thank you for your interest in our numismatic designs. The other 2 artists were Angel Cacnio & Rafael Asuncion. Unfortunately, I do not know if Mr. Cacnio has an email address and Mr. Asuncion, I heard, just passed away a few months ago.
However, as far as I can remember, Angel did the P100 & P20 bills, the heroes on the 25 centavos (Juan Luna), the 50 centavos (Marcelo H. del Pilar, and the 1 centavo (Lapu-lapu) and the orchid on the 5 centavos.
Rafael did the P50 & P10, the hero (Jose Rizal) on the 1 peso coin, the Philippine eagle on the 50 centavos, the butterfly on the 25 centavos and the shell on the 1 centavo.
I did the P5 pesos and the P1000, the hero (Andres Bonifacio) and the coconut tree on the P2 decagonal coin, the tamaraw (a wild animal) on the P1 coin, the poet (Francisco Baltazar) and the fish on the 10 centavos and the heroine (Melchora Aquino) on the the 5 centavos. The original Marcos P500 was also designed by me, was printed but never circulated when Marcos fell. Pres. Aquino replaced it with the Ninoy Aquino P500 which was now designed by Mr. Asuncion, since I was already in Canada by that time.
I hope these suffice.
Thanks again,
RCMananQuil
See also: How I "Made Money" for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (https://pinoynumismatistnetwork.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/rc-mananquil).
Based on the information above, I constructed this list:
1 sentimo. Lapu-lapu. D: Angel Cacnio.
Sea shell (Voluta imperialis). D: Rafael Asuncion.
5 sentimos. Melchora Aquino. D: Romeo MananQuil.
Waling-waling orchid. D: Angel Cacnio.
10 sentimos. Francisco Baltasar. D: Romeo MananQuil.
Pygmy goby, world's smallest fish. D: Romeo MananQuil.
25 sentimos. Juan Luna. D: Angel Cacnio.
Butterfly (Graphium idaeoides). D: Rafael Asuncion.
50 sentimos. Marcel H. del Pilar. D: Angel Cacnio.
Monkey-eating eagle. D: Rafael Asuncion.
1 piso. Jose Rizal. D: Rafael Asuncion.
Tamaraw (Black buffalo). D: Romeo MananQuil.
2 piso. Andres Bonifacio. D: Romeo MananQuil.
Coconut palm. D: Romeo MananQuil.
D = Designer.
See also:
1] The Philippines: First National Heroes Coinage, 1967 to 1974 (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,52905.0.html).
2] The Philippines: Second National Heroes Coinage, 1975 to 1982 (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,52911.0.html).
3] The Philippines: the BSP coin series (1995-2017) (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,53109.0.html).
4] The Philippines: Coins of the New Generation Currency (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,53112.0.html).