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MANILA, Philippines – Adonis Buemia provided ice cream for a living for three decades.
During this time, the 70-year-old was able to save enough to buy a house, a brand new tricycle and even set aside almost 50,000 pesos in cash from his daily income of 300 pesos.
Every day he saved P100 from his salary to take away and put it in a closet in his house.
To his dismay, the single parent and a senior carer of a special child later discovered that his stash of cash was literally crumbling in hiding in the closet after termites feasted on them.
Desperate to save his hard-earned money, Buemia commented on a local television broadcast on Facebook for help. In return, the program referred his case to the BSP.
In a statement, the Department of Monetary Policy and Integrity (CPID) at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas immediately assessed the remains of the termite-infested bills.
BSP’s acting deputy director Nenette Malabrigo then contacted the bank near Buemia’s residence and confirmed the mutilated cash as replacement.
Earlier this month, Buemia received replacement peso bills for his savings.
“I am very happy that my money has been replaced and returned to me in full,” he said in Tagalog. “Thanks a lot to [the bank] for accepting my money and working with BSP. Thank you BSP for helping me replace my money. “
On Wednesday, the central bank reiterated that expired peso bills could be replaced under certain conditions.
To qualify for damaged banknote replacements, BSP regulations require that the size of the remaining banknotes should be 60 percent or three-fifths of their original size; part of one of the two facsimile signatures has yet to be seen or observed; and the window security thread must remain intact unless otherwise caused by fire, insects, and any form of inadvertent maim.
To prevent damage from termites, water, and other elements, the agency encouraged the public to keep their savings in BSP-monitored financial institutions where they are safe and secure.
The BSP previously issued a circular aiming to enable Filipinos to make payments easier and save money by making simple, accessible, and convenient use of simple deposit accounts – affordable, straightforward, and easy-to-open accounts that even those without valid IDs can apply for can be done via alternative documents or via the apps of selected banks.
These deposit accounts only require an opening deposit amount of P100 or less and have no maintenance or dormant fees, but can earn interest for depositors.
More details on opening basic deposit accounts and the list of banks that offer them can be found on the BSP website and their official Facebook account, the agency said.
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