Philippine Currency During World War Two

[Deadstring67]

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During World War Two, the Japanese took over the Philippine Islands (starting the day after the Pearl Harbor attack). The Bataan Death March occurred due to this, and the Philipinos had to endure years of puppet government rule and hostile occupying forces. Many of the soldiers who were not captured by the Japanese either formed or joined resistance (guerrilla) groups. These groups made their own governments and currency. The Japanese government and it's puppet government also issued their own currencies.

The purpose of this site is to document the various forms of currency in use during World War Two in the Philippines. To this end, I have attempted to gather as many scans of the existing notes as I could, and have categorized them on the left. If you have a note that is in far better condition that the one I show, please submit a scan of the note, front and back, to me so that it can be included on this site.

'Republica Ng Pilipinas' was the puppet government that the Japanese put in place.

'Aviator' and 'War' notes can be found under the US Military Issues category.

Municipal and guerrilla military issues can be found under the province in which they were primarily located.

[Deadstring67]

Aklan

During wartime in the Philippines, Maj. Pedro Yatar, commander of the 2nd Batallion of the 64th Infantry Regiment, printed 100,000 pesos in low denomination notes to provide small change in the Aklan area of Capiz province. The notes were printed in sheets, and the shortage of type resulted in variations in border ornaments and text on each denomination. These were distributed to municipal treasurers, and of the six denominations issued, not all are presently known to collectors and the very small number of printed issued notes had made this rare. The Aklan area of Capiz later became a separate province in 1956.
Municipalities List

Buruanga


Kalibo

Notes issued by Kalibo

CAP001

Notes issued


S204


S205


S206


S207


S208

Antique

In 1939, in anticipation of the Japanese invasion, Antique became a mobilization center. WWII saw an active anti-Japanese guerilla campaign led by Col Macario Peralta and other officers of the 61st infantry Division of the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East). The first submarine-born supplies to the 6th Military District (as Gen Douglas McArthur designated the Panay-Negros area) were landed in Libertad, then a barrio of Pandan. Guerillas operated rather freely in Antique, as their mountain bases on Mt. Baloy and Mt. Madya-as were located on the border of the Iloilo and Capiz. Moreover, the Japanese were garrisoned for most of the time in the capital of San Jose.

The Japanese would occasionally sortie north to pursue guerilla forces. The guerilla warning system worked so effectively in evacuating the people from the town centers whenever Japanese columns would venture out of San Jose, that many of the people in Antique could say that they never saw a Japanese soldier during the entire war. The guerilla units maintained a killing field called Badyang, a place where suspected collaborators were executed. Stay-over public officials and traders were most vulnerable to charges of collaboration.

Municipalities List

Barbaza

[img]http://guerrilla-money.com/g-m/Antique/Barbaza/Barbaza.png[img]
Notes issued by Barbaza


[img]http://guerrilla-money.com/g-m/Antique/Barbaza/ANT001a_o_tn.jpg[img]
ANT001


[img]http://guerrilla-money.com/g-m/Antique/Barbaza/ANT002_o_tn.jpg[img]
ANT002


[img]http://guerrilla-money.com/g-m/Antique/Barbaza/ANT003_o_tn.jpg[img]
ANT003

Bugasong
Caluya
Culasi
Dao
Laua-an
Pandan
San Remigio
Sibalom
Tibiao
Valderrama

Apayao

Apayao is a sub-province in the sparsely settled northern part of Mountain Province. Probably because of the difficulty in supplying this remote area with provincial currency, it was decided to allow local currency to circulate on a limited basis. Two different issues are known.

The notes from the first issue were printed from hand-carved plates, and the amount (and quality) of ink used varied a bit. At points, India Ink was used, other times, thinned out house paint (or anything in between!). Due to this, it is possible to obtain notes of any denomination in which the printing was the same and yet the notes look very different... one way for a collector to form a highly specialized collection...

The second issue notes have many interesting varieties as well, due to differences in cutting and printing of the various sheets.

Notes issued


S101


S104


S105


S112


S113


S114


S115


S121


S122


S123


S124


S125


S126


S127

Bohol

Bohol is an island province in the central Philippines. Emergency currency was issued by provincial officials during 1942 and 1943. Many local issues then appeared, continuing on into 1944 (one into 1945). One significant aspect of some municipal issues is that they were usable in more than one community (as specified on the notes themselves).

Municipalities List

Antequera

Antiquera is located in the west central part of Bohol. Its local currency was issued by the Antequera Change Board. The notes are among the crudest of all the municipal issues; most are just barely identifiable, and it is the rare exception to find one with even fairly clear text. Notable in this small series is the 30 centavos denomination, unmatched in any other issue of guerrilla notes.

The known denominations are 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 Centavos.



Notes issued


BOH203


BOH205

Balilihan

Bilar

Calape

Calape is on the west central coast of Bohol, this municipality made 2 distinct issues of notes though all are dated 1943. The distinguishing feature between them is the appearance of the large center numerals on the face side. All Denominations of both issues are among the more available Bohol municipal notes. Issuing body was the Calape Emergency Currency Board.


Notes issued


BOH351


BOH372


BOH373


BOH374

Clarin

Notes issued by Clarin


BOH422


BOH423

Dimilao


Janga

Notes issued



BOH471


BOH472


BOH473


BOH474

Loay

Loboc

Notes issued


BOH552


BOH554


BOH555

Loon

Notes issued by Loon


BOH602


BOH604


BOH624

Maribojoc

Notes issued


BOH652


BOH653


BOH661


BOH662


BOH663

Sevilla

Tubigon

Notes issued


BOH752


BOH753


BOH754

Ubay

Notes issued


BOH783


BOH784

Notes issued by Bohol



S131



S133



S134



S136



S137



S142



S143



S144

Cagayan

After the Japanese Tanaka Detachment landed at Aparri and Gonzaga on December 10, 1941, they occupied the capitol and it's adjacent airfield. In the meantime, the Philippino Governor of Cagayan Province had evacuated his Provincial Government to the isolated municipality of Tuao. Due to a shortage of currency to pay for necessary expenditures he created a Currency Board on January 1, 1942 to try to solve the problem. The result was the printing of four separate issues of Emergency Currency.

The first issue from this province is actually comprised of Postal Money Order forms (with serial #'s recorded for later redemption). More info as I get it.

Second issue notes were mimeographed forms, folded in half and glued together with silk thread layd out inside, with an Internal Revenue stamp of the appropriate denomination applied to it (on the left side of the obverse).

The third issue was actually a continuation of the second, consisting of a couple hundred 50 centavos notes with a facsimile "war bill" stamping applied where the Revenue stamps had been applied. This was done once the real stamp supply had been exhausted.

The fourth issue was printed from hand engraved lead plates made from melted down lead from car batteries. The ink that was used ranged from duplicator ink to diluted house paint, with over- or under-inked notes very common occurences. Almost any type of paper that they could find was used to print the notes. Serial numbers on the reverse were all hand written.

There are no municipalities listed for this province

Notes issued


S161


S162


S163


S164


S165


S167


S168


S169


S170


S172


S173


S174


S175


S176


S178


S180


S181


S183


S185


S187


S188


S189


S190


S191


S193


S194


s166


s171


s177


s189


s193

Capiz

Capiz occupies the north central part of Panay.

There are only 2 denominations in the Capiz provincial series- 50 Centavos and 1 Peso. There are notes with a Commitee misspelling, but I have no examples of this. Also, there are counterfeit notes of both denominations, made during the war. These counterfeits are just as collectable as the originals.

Municipalities List

Ivisan

Sigma

Notes issued


CAP225

Notes issued


S202


s201


s202

Cebu

Cebu is a long, narrow province in the central Philippines between Negros and Bohol. It was at Cebu City that the seat of government for the Philippine Commonwealth was established after the fall of Manila to Japanese forces at the end of 1941. Millions of Cebu notes were to be placed into circulation on the islands of Leyte, Samar, Bohol and Masbate, all then unoccupied by Japanese forces.Many of these notes were counterstamped by the local municipalities in the provinces that they circulated in. These notes command a premium above the regular notes from the Cebu province. Two provinces which relied heavily on Cebu notes are Leyte and Surigao.

* Cebu was believed to not have had time to issue municipal notes before the occupation, but apparently at least 2 municipalities did just that. These notes are extremely rare.

Municipalities List

Bantayan

Bantayan is the name of both the municipality and the island it is located on, and is part of the Cebu province.

Notes issued


CEB005


CEB010


CEB020


CEB050

Madridejos


Notes issued by Cebu


S214


S215


S216


S217


S218


S220


S223


S224

Culion Leper Colony

Culion Leper Colony is located on Culion Island, 20 miles long and 10 miles wide. It is located a short distance north of Palawan. Culions´ notes where issued first without presidential authority (more common), and later with presidential authority (rarer). This authority designation was printed on the back of the notes, and all notes had the Bureau of Health stamping in blue. None of the 1, 5 or 20 Peso notes had the presidential authority clause on the reverse.

These notes were printed on thin paper which was coated with paraffin.

Recently a hoard of these notes was discovered, making them much more obtainable. I have conferred with Neil Schafer, and he believes this hoard to contain authentic notes.

There are no municipalities listed for this province

Notes issued


S241


S242


S243


S244


S245


S247


S248

Ilocos Norte

Ilocos Norte is a province in the northwest corner of Luzon Island.

The notes from this province were printed single-sided, then folded in half and glued together. All notes have a purple overprint on the front noting the denomination.

Most notes found will have a REGISTERED stamping, and most of these are found with another stamping that says PAID.

There are no municipalities listed for this province

Notes issued by Ilocos Norte


S263


S266


S267


S273


S282


S283


S286


S288


S293


S295


S296


S297

Iloilo

Iloilo is the largest province on Panay, occupying the southeast part of the island and also including the nearby island of Gulmaras. President Quezon set up temporary headquarters in Iloilo early in 1942.

Notes were issued from 1941 to 1944 by the Philippine National Bank, and each series was fairly complete. Printing quality is uniformly good for just about all Iloilo notes.

*As an (unrelated) side note: Iloilo is the sister city to my city (Stockton, California). Just thought that was an interesting piece of trivia.

Municipalities List

Jordan


Notes issued


S301


S302


S303


S305


S306


S307


S308


S309


S311


S312


S313


S314


S315


S316


S317


S318


S322


S330


S331


S332


S335


S337


S338


S339


S340


s322


s341

Isabella

Isabella is situated in the lower northeast part of Luzon. As it is thinly populated the issue of notes in its name was quite limited. Notes from this province are extremely rare, and generally cost in the hundreds of dollars each to obtain a decent example of one.

There are no municipalities listed for this province

Notes issued


S367

Lanao

There are no municipalities listed for this province

Notes issued


S375


S376


S377


S378


S380


S382


S383

[Deadstring67]

Leyte............

Leyte is one of the eastern islands, north of Mindanao. Notes from this province are fairly difficult to locate, and are usually found in lower grades.

Municipality Issues:

In April of 1942, the JIM notes were ready for distribution. The existing Philippine currency was to be redeemed for the JIM by the end of June 1942. The shipment of notes to Leyte was lost, and so the local military commander ordered that the deadline for redemption be postponed, and that all currently circulating notes be registered, and hand stamped as such. Each municipality was to do this by July 1942. Most of the notes in circulation at the time where from Cebu, therefore you will occassionally encounter a Cebu note with a Leyte counterstamp for registration during this period.

Once the JIM notes arrived, the stamped notes that were in circulation where to be presented for exchange. Most were not.

Municipalities List

11th Guerrilla Division

Notes issued by 11th Guerrilla Division


LEY001


LEY002


LEY005


LEY010

Hilongos

Notes issued


LEY152


LEY153

Hindang

Hinundayan

Liloan

Liloan is a small municipality located acrosss the water from Sogod, in Leyte. This is the only known note from the area, and any information is lacking as to what other denominations, if any, were produced.

Notes issued


LEY999

Ma-Ba-Hi-Hin-In


Maasin

Maasin is on the southern coast of Leyte. There were two different issues of local notes here. The first of these has many major varieties, probably because there were a number of printings. Changes in plates occurred as the issue progressed, and at times serial numbers overlap the changes. Possibly different plates were being used simultaneously.

Notes issued


LEY251


LEY255

Macrohon

Macrohon is very near the southern tip of west Leyte. Its issue of notes consists of six denominations (5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1 and 2 Peoss), all of the same design. There is a resemblance to the second Maasin issue except for the lack of a date. This issue is officially reported in its entirety by the Philippine government.

Notes issued


LEY301


LEY304


LEY305

Malitbog

Sogod

Tolosa

USFIP




Counterstamped Notes

Hinunangan


Kauayan


Liloan


Macrohon


Matalom


Pintuyan


albuera


barugo


bato


burauen


calubian


dulag


leyte


provincial

Notes issued



S394


S395


S403


S404


S405


S406


S408


S409


S410


S414

[Deadstring67]

akoa gihapon ni cya

[Deadstring67]

kani sad ako gihapon.

[Deadstring67]

last nani. ako gihapon ni. wait for my post.thanks
nag transfer pa ko sa notepad. kay medyo taas2x.. hehe
Busy pa kaau ko. bcn ugma na nko ni ma update.ga multi tasking nko dri

[breinrules]

wa? ....................

[behemothharr]

wala jud tawn ko ana.....

[higanstolsdawen]

@TS ngano kaha getawag nila ug mickey mouse money ang kuwarta panahon sa ikaduhang gubat sa kalibotan?

btw another interesting thread, waiting for the pics.

[Deadstring67]

@higanstolsdawen, wa jd ko kabalo ngano "mickey mouse" ila ge gamit pero kong mag hisgot ta ana. mao nay ge tawag nila sauna nga "Play Money" , Funny Money or "fiat peso" nga gikan sa japan. tungod siguro kay d masabtan ilang kwarta sa ka daghanan. pero ang tawag jd ana kay "Invasion Money",(Japanese Invasion Money, officially known as Southern Development Bank Notes)


75 "Mickey Mouse" pesos, or about 35 U.S. dollars ,could buy one duck egg.
In 1944, a box of matches cost more than 100 Mickey Mouse pesos.