2 Pesos Circulating Note, Amended by 2 Acts

The Philippine National Bank was established by the colonial government in 1916 partly to break the grip of foreign banks — primarily British and American commercial institutions — on Philippine agricultural credit. By 1921, the PNB was in serious financial trouble, having extended ruinous loans to sugar planters during the post-WWI commodity boom; the bank nearly collapsed when sugar prices crashed in 1920–21 and required a government rescue.

The "Amended by 2 Acts" designation in the series title reflects legislative patches to the PNB's charter pushed through during that crisis period. The BEP in Washington handled all Philippine currency printing at this stage — the islands had no domestic printing capacity for security paper.