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5 Pesos
| Issuer | Province of Masbate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peso (1941-1945) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain blue letterpress note with a simple rectangular border frame. The denomination FIVE PESOS appears in large bold letters at center, above a redemption clause and below the issuer name PROVINCE OF MASBATE. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower left and right, with a serial number at upper right, and the legend EMERGENCY TREASURY CERTIFICATE printed along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FIVE THIS CERTIFIES THAT THERE HAVE BEEN DEPOSITS WITH THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK TO THE OFFICIAL CREDIT OF THE TREASURY OF THE PROVINCE OF MASBATE FIVE PESOS REDEEMABLE TO THE BEARER IN SILVER PESOS OR IN LEGAL TENDER CURRENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EMERGENCY TREASURY CERTIFICATE |
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| Comments |
Masbate is a small island province in the Visayas, and its wartime emergency currency occupies a genuinely obscure corner of Philippine guerrilla note collecting. When Japanese forces occupied the archipelago in late 1941 and early 1942, provincial governments and military units across the islands began issuing their own emergency notes to keep local economies functioning — Masbate among them. These issues were produced under improvised conditions, often on whatever paper stock was locally available, with printing quality that varied considerably even within the same series.
Pick S459 falls within the Philippine Commonwealth emergency issues cataloged under Shafer's provincial classification. Survival rates for Masbate notes are lower than for larger provinces simply because the island's population and administrative infrastructure were smaller.