50 Centavos

Municipal emergency currency issued under Japanese occupation, when the fall of the Philippines in early 1942 severed normal banking functions and left local governments scrambling to maintain basic commerce. Guiuan, at the southeastern tip of Samar, was geographically isolated enough that improvised local scrip became a practical necessity rather than a political gesture.

These municipal notes were typically produced on whatever paper was at hand, often with rubber-stamp authentication or hand-signed authorization rather than any formal printing process. Survival rates are low — most circulated hard and were never redeemed through any organized recall.