The Philippines: Coins of the New Generation Currency

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Waling-waling orchid (Vanda sanderiana).

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Philippines, 5 piso, 2017.

The 5 piso coin is made of nickel-plated steel.

It weighs 7.4 grams and had a diameter of 25 mm.


Unlike the 1 piso coin, it includes micro-text on the obverse and reverse.

The obverse design features a portrait of Andrés Bonifacio.

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Andrés Bonifacio.

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

He is considered to be the Father of the Philippine Revolution and Filipino Nation.

He was the first unofficial president of the Philippine archipelago.

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Philippines, 5 piso, 2017.

The reverse design of the 5 piso coin features tayabak (Strongylodon macrobotrys).

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Tayabak (Strongylodon macrobotrys).

Strongylodon macrobotrys, commonly known as jade vine, emerald vine or turquoise jade vine, is a species of leguminous perennial liana (woody vine) that is endemic to the tropical forests of the Philippines.

It has stems that can reach up to 18 metres in length. Its local name is tayabak. A member of the Fabaceae (the pea and bean family), it is closely related to beans such as the kidney bean and runner bean. Strongylodon macrobotrys is pollinated by bats.

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Philippines, 5 piso, 2019.

The 5 piso coin had a diameter of 25 mm, whilst the 1 piso coin has a diameter of 23 mm.

The two coins were often confused.


As a result, a new amended version of the 5 piso coin was issued in December 2019.

It still weighs 7.4 grams and has a diameter of 25 mm, just like the old version.


However, the new version is nonagonal (nine-sided).

It also has a polygonal inner rim.

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Philippines, 5 piso, 2019.

Here you see the reverse of the new 5 piso coin.

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Philippines, 10 piso, 2018.

The 10 piso coin is made of nickel-plated steel.

It weighs 8 grams and had a diameter of 27 mm.


The obverse design features a portrait of Apolinario Mabini.

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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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Philippines, 10 piso, 2018.

The reverse of the 10 piso coin features a kapa-kapa or rose grape (Medinilla magnifica).

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The kapa-kapa or rose grape (Medinilla magnifica).

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Philippines, 20 piso, 2019.

A new 20 piso coin was also issued in December 2019.

It was the highest standard circulating denomination ever in the Philippines.

It was also only the second standard circulating bimetallic coin in the Philippines.


It has a nickel-plated steel centre within a bronze-plated steel ring.

The coin weighs 11.5 grams and has a diameter of 30 mm.


The obverse features a portrait of Manuel Quezon.

He was the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

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Manuel Quezon.

From Wikipedia:

Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (1878-1944), also referred to by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines (as opposed to the government of previous Philippine states), and is considered to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901), whom Quezon defeated in the 1935 presidential election.

During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the countryside. His other major decisions included the reorganization of the islands' military defense, approval of a recommendation for government reorganization, the promotion of settlement and development in Mindanao, dealing with the foreign stranglehold on Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land reform, and opposing graft and corruption within the government. He established a government-in-exile in the U.S. with the outbreak of World War II and the threat of Japanese invasion.

It was during his exile in the U.S. that he died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New York. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery until the end of World War II, when his remains were moved to Manila. His final resting place is the Quezon Memorial Circle.

In 2015, the Board of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation approved a posthumous bestowal of the Wallenberg Medal upon President Quezon and to the people of the Philippines for having reached out, between 1937 and 1941, to the victims of the Holocaust. President Benigno Aquino III and then-94-year-old Maria Zenaida Quezon Avanceña, the daughter of the former president, were informed of this recognition.

Scholars have also described Quezon's leadership as a 'de facto dictatorship' (Pante, 2017) and that he was "the first Filipino politician to integrate all levels of politics into a synergy of power", having removed his term limits as president and turning the Senate into an extension of the executive through constitutional amendments.

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Philippines, 20 piso, 2019.

The reverse of the 20 piso coin features nilad.

Its scientific name is Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea.

Also featured are the Central Bank logo and Malacañang Palace.

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Nilad (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea).

Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea has a large distribution range, from India, to tropical Asia and the western Pacific.

It is a shrub of about 3 metres (10 feet) and is often found in mangrove forests or sandy beaches.

Its local common names include nilad and sagasa in the Philippines.