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Republic of the Philippines | CEIVED
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES tl

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Quezon City, Metro Manila \s bs
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS Gs Kr
First Regular Session tumey oF

House Bil No, 5449

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE

AN ACT
FOR AN ELDERLY AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIENDLY
PHILIPPINE CURRENCY DESIGN,
AMENDING SECTION 53 OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 7653, ALSO KNOWN AS THE
“NEW CENTRAL BANK ACT”

EXPLANATORY NOTE

There are more than half a million blind people and many more who are visually impaired to
a lesser degree in the Philippines according to the Resources for the Blind, Inc. Further,
statistics reveal that about 100 children lose their sight every week. For the elderly, cataract
is considered the leading cause of blindness.

It is the policy of the State to exert all efforts to remove all social, cultural, economic,
environmental and attitudinal barriers that are discriminatory to differently abled persons.
However, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the President has failed to seriously
consider the condition of the elderly and differently abled in designing our currency despite
the fact that a growing number of our people are becoming visually impaired. Despite the
huge number of visually impaired persons in the country, the different denominations of
Philippine money are not easily distinguishable to the visually impaired especially those who
were afflicted with blindness at a later age.

Although every banknote denomination differs in color, they still all have the same size and
do not have any distinguishable feature (raised dots or markings, imprint, etc.) that can be
recognized by the elderly or visually impaired. They oftentimes have to rely on other people
to tell them how much they are receiving or giving which not only makes them vulnerable to
fraud but also contribute to their disempowerment. This essentially denies them meaningful
access to the use of the currency.

Under Sec. 53 of Republic Act No. 7653, it is stated that, “the Monetary Board, with the
approval of the President of the Philippines, shall prescribe the denominations, dimensions,
designs, inscriptions and other characteristics of notes issued by the Bangko Sentral ... ”

In 2010, when this measure was first filed and through the intervention made by Bayan
Muna, the BSP expressed to accommodate features that are blind friendly in the newly
minted bills of 2011. But there was not a significant feature added to address the issue of the
blind and the visually impaired section of our population. What made things worse is that the


new bills made it difficult even for those with no visual problem; the colors used were only
shades away from each bill that some people mistake P1000 for P100.00.

This bill requires the Monetary Board to take cognizance of the plight of the blind and the
visually impaired in designing Philippine peso notes and coins. Raised dots signifying “100”
or “500” for example, on the top left front side of a note that can be easily felt by touch and
would differentiate it from other denominations would greatly help our elderly and the
visually impaired. This bill further requires the Board to fix the colors of the bills into
distinguishable bills even for those with good eyesight.

This bill, originally filed by Bayan Muna, was passed on Third Reading by the House of
Representatives during the 16" Congress.

The immediate approval of this bill is therefore earnestly sought.

Approved,

nen MBEAN ere

Bayan Muna Party-List


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

5449

House Bill No._—_

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE

AN ACT
FOR AN ELDERLY AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIENDLY
PHILIPPINE CURRENCY DESIGN,
AMENDING SECTION 53 OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 7653, ALSO KNOWN AS THE
“NEW CENTRAL BANK ACT”

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

Section 1. Section 53 of the Republic Act No. 7653 of the Central Bank Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:

Section 53. Characteristics of the Currency. - The Monetary Board, with the approval
of the President of the Philippines, shall prescribe the denominations, dimensions,
designs, inscriptions and other characteristics of notes issued by the Bangko Sentral:
Provided, however, That said notes shall state that they are liabilities of the Bangko
Sentral and are fully guaranteed by the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines. Said notes shall bear the signatures, in facsimile, of the President of the
jines and of the Governor of the Bangko Sentral.

Similarly, the Monetary Board, with the approval of the President of the Philippines,
shall prescribe the weight, fineness, designs, denominations and other characteristics
of the coins issued by the Bangko Sentral. In the minting of coins, the Monetary Board
shall give full consideration to the availability of suitable metals and to their relative
prices and cost of minting.

ADDITIONALLY, ALL THESE NOTES SHALL BEAR FEATURES EASILY
DISTINGUISHABLE TO THE ELDERLY AND THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
BY ENSURING THAT EACH CURRENCY DENOMINATION, WHETHER
NOTES OR COINS, SHALL HAVE DIFFERENT SIZES OR DESIGNS AND
THAT EACH NOTE SHALL HAVE RAISED DOTS OR MARKINGS TO
SIGNIFY ITS DENOMINATION. THE MONETARY BOARD SHALL
ALWAYS CONSIDER THE ELDERLY AND THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED
WHEN DESIGNING NOTES AND COINS.

Section 2. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following
its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

3


Section 3. Separability Clause. - If any provision or section of this Act or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance is held unconstitutional or invalid, the other
provisions or sections of this Act, and the application of such provision or section to other
persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

Approved,