20 Centavos

One of dozens of provincial emergency notes issued across the Philippine archipelago following the Japanese invasion and occupation beginning in late 1941. With Manila's banking system disrupted and Japanese Military Administration currency not yet fully distributed in the northern provinces, local governments and guerrilla-aligned authorities printed their own scrip to keep commerce functioning. Ilocos Norte, on the northwestern tip of Luzon, was among them.

The S-prefix in the Pick reference denotes Philippine provincial and guerrilla issues — a category that spans an enormous range of printing quality, paper stock, and institutional authority. Some were formally sanctioned by Commonwealth officials still operating in the field; others were more improvised.