10 Centavos

The Philippine National Bank was chartered in 1916 partly to displace American private banking interests and extend credit to agricultural producers. These small-denomination emergency circulating notes followed almost immediately, filling a gap left by the shortage of subsidiary coin during World War I — a problem that afflicted nearly every colonial economy in the Pacific during that period.

The PNB series of fractional notes, of which this is among the earliest issues, was authorized under specific wartime emergency provisions rather than ordinary banking legislation. That distinction affected their legal tender status in ways that caused practical friction at point of sale.