The recently discovered “faceless” PhP100 bills that came out of a BPI automated teller machine were not technically fake or counterfeit, but legitimate though defective money that simply suffered from a printing glitch, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) explained on Friday.
A BPI customer had called the BSP’s attention to the defective banknotes earlier this week.
In a Facebook post, Earla Anne Yehey reported that she withdrew the so-called faceless bills from an ATM in Makati City earlier this week.
Carlyn Pangilinan, Managing Director of the BSP Currency Management Sub-sector, explained that BSP had unintentionally shipped out a batch of the bills that did not bear an imprint of the face of the late president Manuel Roxas.
“There was just a glitch in the printing … As reported to us there were just 33 pieces, so it’s very minimal in comparison with the volume of banknotes that are printed everyday. so it is really an isolated case.”
Those faceless P100 peso bills that went viral online recently have become collectors’ items.
BSP said the rare misprints are still considered legal tender, and may be exchanged at the Bangko Sentral at par value.
