Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Philippine National Bank, Bacolod Branch (Negros Occidental) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain off-white note with a scalloped border running along all four edges. The upper portion carries the inscriptions PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK and EMERGENCY CIRCULATING NOTE OF 1941, with a large bold FIVE PESOS vignette at centre and a handstamp overprint reading VOID. Corner numerals '5' appear at all four angles alongside SERIES OF 1941 at upper right, a serial number at centre right, and a City of Bacolod date stamp at lower right. Three manuscript signatures of the Negros Occidental Currency Committee — Provincial Fiscal Member, Bacolod Branch Chairman, and Acting Provincial Auditor Member — are arranged along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a uniform reddish-brown tone on plain paper, enclosed by a scalloped outer border. The denomination FIVE PESOS is set in large bold serif lettering at the top centre, flanked by Roman numeral V at each upper corner and digit 5 at each lower corner. Below the main title, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK and EMERGENCY CIRCULATING NOTE appear in progressively smaller type, with a centred italic legend attributing the issue to presidential authority at the foot of the design. |
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| Comments |
The Philippine National Bank's wartime emergency branches produced a series of provincial notes in 1941 as Japanese invasion became imminent and Manila's financial infrastructure grew increasingly unreliable. The Bacolod branch on Negros Occidental was among several regional offices authorized to issue their own obligations — a practical decentralization intended to keep commerce moving if central communications were severed.
Negros Occidental was a sugar-producing heartland, and these notes circulated among an economy built almost entirely on that single crop. Japanese forces occupied the island in 1942, rendering the series worthless almost immediately after issue. Surviving examples often show real circulation wear — these were used notes in a society that had no better option.