1 Peso José Rizal

This issue marks the centenary of José Rizal's birth in 1861 — the Philippine national hero executed by the Spanish colonial government in 1896 whose two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, were instrumental in catalyzing the independence movement. The centennial was a significant state occasion under President Carlos P. Garcia, who had himself championed the "Filipino First" policy of economic nationalism in the late 1950s.

The coin was struck at the Philadelphia Mint under contract, a common arrangement for Philippine commemorative issues of the period.