5 Pesos

Philippine municipal emergency currency proliferated after the Japanese invasion of December 1941 cut off the supply of Commonwealth-issued notes and coins. Zamboanga City — then capital of Zamboanga Province on the Mindanao peninsula — was among dozens of local governments authorized to print their own scrip to keep commerce functioning. The authority to do so came from emergency powers granted by the Philippine Commonwealth government before its retreat to Corregidor.

Zamboanga fell to Japanese forces in early May 1942. Notes issued that year may predate the occupation, postdate it, or straddle it — the municipal printing timeline is poorly documented, which makes precise dating of individual pieces genuinely difficult.