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

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

2611

House Bill No.

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA.
Representatives NERI J. COLMENARES and CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE

AN ACT
FOR AN ELDERLY AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIENDLY
PHILIPPINE CURRENCY DESIGN,
AMENDING SECTION 53 OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 7653

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘There are more chan half a million blind people and many more who are visually impaireé 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 consi

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 umber 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 bur also
contribute to their disempowerment. This essentially denies them meaningful access to the 1 sea
the currency.

Under Sec. 53 of Republic Act No. 7653, icis stated thar, “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 ...”


Tn 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 cach 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 differemiate
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.

‘The immediate approval of this bill is therefore earnestly sought.

Approved,

\ ais
:
Rep. SitacDcaie EB

Bayan Muna Party-List



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

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BillNo, 2611

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA »
Representatives NERI J. COLMENARES and CARLOS ISAGANI T, ZARATE,

AN ACT.
FOR AN ELDERLY AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIENDLY
PHILIPPINE CURRENCY DESIGN,
AMENDING SECTION 53 OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 7653

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 hexeby
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,
riptions and other characteristics of notes issued by the Bangko Senteal: 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 Philippines 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
sued 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 } AND

COINS,


Section 2. Effedivity 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.

Section 3. Separability Clause. - Tf 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 persors «
circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

Approved,