Philippine peso denominations: which notes and coins are actually in circulation
The legal tender of the Philippines is the Philippine peso, currency code PHP, symbol ₱. On the notes themselves and in everyday speech it is written and said as piso. The sole issuing authority is the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which issues both banknotes and coins.
According to BSP, the banknote series in circulation is the New Generation Currency (NGC) series, first released in December 2010, in denominations of 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50 and 20. In 2020 BSP launched enhanced NGC banknotes designed to be more usable for the elderly and the visually impaired, carrying upgraded anti-counterfeiting technology. On the coin side, BSP released the NGC Coin Series on 26 March 2018, covering 10-piso, 5-piso, 1-piso, 25-sentimo, 5-sentimo and 1-sentimo. On 17 December 2019 it added a 20-piso coin and a nine-sided enhanced 5-piso coin. The older BSP Coin Series, issued from 1995, remains legal tender. There is also a 10-piso ASEAN commemorative coin marking the country's 2026 ASEAN chairmanship.
Two shifts are worth knowing before you land. The 20-piso banknote is being withdrawn through natural attrition now that a 20-piso coin exists — no new ones are printed, so the stock simply thins out. And production of the 200-piso banknote was approved for discontinuation in 2021 because usage had been low since its 2010 launch; BSP has stated it stays legal tender until it becomes unfit for recirculation. So if either lands in your hand, it still spends. You will just see them less often.
Why any of this matters practically: a large share of small, high-frequency payments in the Philippines are cash-only, and change-making capacity at that end of the market is thin. How that should shape the notes you carry is covered in the last section. For what these denominations are worth in your home currency — a number that moves every trading day and that this article deliberately does not print — see how to check the peso rate and convert it yourself.
Why the Philippine currency is called the peso, and what piso and pera mean
The short answer: more than three centuries of Spanish rule left the name behind. BSP itself divides the history of Philippine money into six eras — Pre-Hispanic, Spanish, Revolutionary, American, Japanese Occupation, and the Philippine Republic. The silver-based money that arrived during the Spanish era is where "peso" entered the vocabulary, and the name survived every subsequent change of government and every redesign of the notes. It is the same reason a whole family of former Spanish colonies, from Mexico to Chile, still calls its money the peso.
But once you are in the country you will notice locals rarely use the Spanish spelling in speech. The notes and coins are printed with, and people say, the Tagalog spelling piso. BSP's own pages use "10-Piso", "5-Piso", "20-Piso" when describing coins. So when a vendor says singkwenta pisos, that is fifty pesos.
The other word you will meet constantly is pera. It is the general Tagalog word for money — not a denomination and not the name of the currency. Wala akong pera means "I have no money", not "I have no pesos". Keeping piso and pera straight saves a surprising amount of confusion at market stalls and when paying for rides.
The subunit on coins is the sentimo (sometimes written centavo), with 100 sentimo to one piso. In practice sentimo coins do little work: they appear in supermarket and chain-store change, while street-level transactions round to whole pesos.
A related practical point: prices are commonly written several ways in the same city — with the ₱ symbol, with "PHP", with "P" alone, or simply as a number on a handwritten card at a market stall. None of these signals a different currency or a different price basis. On restaurant bills and formal invoices you will more often see PHP spelled out, while shop shelf tags and street vendors default to the symbol or nothing at all.
One more thing worth clearing up for readers coming from Chinese-language sources: "菲币", "披索" and "比索" all refer to this same single currency. Pages that treat two of those as separate currencies are just showing inconsistent translation, not a real distinction.
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Why the same denomination comes in two versions: paper and polymer both count
You will very likely be handed two notes of the same denomination, nearly identical in colour and size, that feel completely different — one traditional paper, one plastic-feeling polymer. Both are legal tender, both circulate side by side, and a merchant cannot refuse one because it is the wrong type.
Per BSP, the 1000-piso polymer banknote was introduced in April 2022. On 19 December 2024, BSP formally presented the complete First Philippine Polymer Banknote Series to the President, adding 500, 100 and 50-piso polymer denominations to the 1000. The polymer series does not include the 200 and 20 denominations — precisely because, as covered above, those two are on their way out.
The design themes are the fastest way to tell the two families apart. Paper notes carry national heroes and natural landmarks — the "notes with faces on them". Polymer notes carry protected wildlife and regional weave patterns: the 1000-piso polymer note shows the critically endangered Philippine eagle alongside the national flower, sampaguita. BSP has had to publish a specific advisory that "banknotes with heroes remain in circulation", because the changeover produced a rumour that the paper notes were being voided. They were not.
BSP gives three reasons for the switch: smarter (more sophisticated security features, harder to counterfeit), cleaner (a smooth, non-absorptive surface resistant to water, oil and dirt, with the Department of Health confirming that viruses and bacteria survive for shorter periods on polymer), and stronger (BSP puts average paper note life at about 1.5 years against as long as 7.5 years for polymer — two to five times longer). For anyone actually living there, the practical benefit is notes that survive the rainy season and the wet market.
One caution that applies to both types: never iron a banknote or expose it to extreme heat. BSP says this explicitly for polymer as well as paper. Trying to flatten a creased polymer note with an iron turns a usable note into a damaged one.
How the peso got here: demonetised series, and why two note families circulate today
The two note families in your wallet are the latest layer of a long sequence. Understanding that sequence tells you whether an old note is still money.
BSP lists the earlier design families in order: the English Series, Pilipino Series, Ang Bagong Lipunan Series, Flora and Fauna Series, Improved Flora and Fauna Series and New Design Series, followed by the New Generation Currency series released from December 2010, and then the polymer series from 2022. The names alone sketch the history: American-era English labelling, then a shift to the national language, then the martial-law-era "new society", then flora and fauna, then heroes and landmarks, and now wildlife and regional weaves.
Redesigns are not cosmetic. BSP frames them as currency integrity. Its own page notes that central banks around the world, as a matter of practice, change the design of currency that has been in circulation for more than ten years, and that the Philippine series introduced in 1985 was replaced by the NGC series launched in 2010 on exactly that basis. Security technology ages, and the longer a design stays out, the more room counterfeiters have to work with.
Demonetisation follows a defined legal process rather than an announcement. The authority is RA 7653, the New Central Bank Act: BSP may call in notes more than five years old and coins more than ten years old; called-in currency remains legal tender for one year from the date of call; for a further period after that it may still be exchanged at par and without charge at BSP and its duly authorised agents; only once that window closes does the currency cease to be a BSP liability and become truly demonetised. Old notes do not turn into paper overnight — people simply miss the two announced windows.
Two practical consequences. First, everything current is money: NGC paper, enhanced NGC, polymer and the coin series all circulate together, and a merchant cannot pick between them. Second, old notes brought home years ago need their series identified first. Anything from a demonetised family holds collector value only, and whether it can still be exchanged is governed by BSP's current announcements — do not carry it to the Philippines assuming it will spend.
On checking authenticity — what each of the feel, look and tilt steps actually examines, what differs between polymer and older paper notes, how to decline a suspect note without a scene, and what to do once you have taken one — all of that is covered item by item in how to spot a counterfeit peso note, so it is not repeated here. Short-changing at exchange counters is a separate category of risk, covered in money changer short-change techniques.
Folded and damaged notes: what must be accepted, what may be refused, where to take them
Start with the rule people most often get pushed around on: folded banknotes, paper or polymer, must be accepted in all payment transactions. That is BSP's stated position, and it publishes three complaint channels — banks and BSP-supervised financial institutions to BSP ([email protected]); business establishments to the Department of Trade and Industry (hotline 1-DTI, or [email protected]); public transport operators and drivers to the LTFRB (hotline 1342). BSP also states plainly that nobody is penalised for folding notes and putting them in a wallet or pocket; it simply encourages careful handling to extend note life.
Knowing this is genuinely useful, because refusal of creased notes does happen, particularly in small shops and on public transport. You do not need an argument — saying that BSP requires folded notes to be accepted usually settles it.
How damaged is too damaged? Notes that are torn, missing pieces, written on, or damaged by chemicals or fire fall into the "unfit for recirculation" category, and a merchant may decline them. That does not mean the money is lost: such notes should be taken to a bank and processed under BSP's rules for mutilated and doubtful currency, with the bank making the determination. BSP's Clean Note and Coin Policy exists precisely to pull unfit currency out of circulation. Its day-to-day handling advice is concrete: do not write or mark on notes; do not crumple, tear, cut or puncture them; keep them away from chemicals, fire, staples, adhesives and high heat; and take unused coins to a bank so they re-enter circulation.
What about notes from many years ago? That is a different question, and it turns on which design series the note belongs to and whether BSP has completed the call-in and demonetisation process for that family. Everything in the current series is money; demonetised families hold collector value only. The test and the legal basis are in the previous section, how the peso got here. Do not merge "damaged" and "expired" into one idea: a damaged note is merely unfit for recirculation and can still be processed by a bank, whereas a demonetised note has ceased to be a BSP liability altogether.
One detail people skip: coins deserve the same care. BSP specifically asks the public to bring unused coins to a bank so they re-enter circulation. Coin hoarding in households against tight change at the till is a long-running feature of Philippine retail, which means the handful of coins in your drawer is genuinely scarce from a shopkeeper's point of view.
Once you have pesos: why small notes beat big ones, and what to do with coins
The conclusion first: in the Philippines, whether you are carrying small denominations affects your day more than how much you are carrying. This is not a frugality tip, it is structural. A large share of small, frequent payments is handled by individual operators working with thin float, and they cannot break large notes.
The typical situations: jeepney and tricycle fares are settled in small change passed down the row; sari-sari stores, street food stalls and fruit vendors can only break modest denominations; taxi and ride-hail drivers routinely have no change; tips only work in small notes and coins. Hand over a large note and the usual outcome is not refusal — it is the vendor walking next door to break it while you wait, or the transaction simply not happening.
Three habits are worth building. Break notes deliberately. When you are somewhere that certainly has change — a convenience store, a fast-food chain, a mall — pay with the large note and bank the small ones. Separate your cash. Keep the day's spending money apart from the rest and avoid displaying a full stack when paying; that is as much a personal-safety habit as a change-making one, and the related practices are in ATM withdrawals and carrying cash safely. Do not dismiss the coins. Philippine coins span a wide range — 10-piso and 20-piso coins are real spending money, not shrapnel. Coins you cannot use should go to a bank, which is exactly what BSP asks the public to do so they re-enter circulation.
How to choose between exchange channels, how much to convert on day one, and whether the airport is worth it are separate questions, handled in how much cash to bring and where to change it and whether to change money at the airport. If you want to buy pesos before departure, the feasibility and the right order of operations are in buying Philippine pesos in China.
One closing rule: do not chase a slightly better rate into an unlicensed channel. The spread you save is not remotely proportionate to the cost of a frozen account, a short count or a forged note. Over time cash matters less anyway — cards, e-wallets and QR payments absorb most spending, and cash settles into a role covering transport, street vendors and emergencies.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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