25 Piso Marcos and Reagan

Issued to commemorate the state visit of U.S. President Ronald Reagan to Manila in June 1982, this coin was authorized under Ferdinand Marcos at a moment when the Marcos administration was actively cultivating American political support to sustain international legitimacy for a government still operating under martial law, which had been formally lifted only months earlier in January. The visit itself was diplomatically fraught — Reagan's public praise of Marcos drew sharp criticism from human rights organizations on both sides of the Pacific.

Struck in .500 fine silver at a time when the Philippine mint was producing few commemorative issues, the series attracted collector attention abroad largely because of Reagan's name recognition in the American market.