SAVE OUR HEROES
PETITION UPDATE #3:
To all our petition signers,
As of 8pm tonight, December 23, 2021, we have garnered 4,939 signatures. We can't thank you enough for supporting this cause.
For tonight's update, let us look at BSP's deal with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Here is an excerpt from an article written by Ralf Rivas for Rappler:
Two reliable sources in the BSP confirmed to Rappler that the central bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) for the supply and printing of polymer banknotes. Sources also told Rappler that an RBA subsidiary, Note Printing Australia (NPA), will be the one printing the polymer banknotes.
NPA has produced and supplied polymer banknotes for Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Thailand, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. NPA sources polymer substrate from CCL Secure, a wholly owned company of Canada’s CCL Industries.
Sources also said the MOU indicated a government-to-government (G2G) deal. In a text message, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno confirmed the MOU, adding that it had been signed. Rappler asked for a copy of the MOU, but Diokno said: “It’s G2G. It is confidential since it involves sensitive matters.”
Former and current central bank officials have questioned the MOU, as the arrangement supposedly did not pass through pre-qualification and bidding.
Traditionally, deals like these undergo the scrutiny of various BSP committees and divisions.
First, a committee which handles currency management and a committee on numismatics, the study of currency units, invite all printers of banknotes and tells them about the requirements, including the material and security features. The committees then hold “a competition” for these printers and vote on which companies would make the cut.
After the voting, the committees step back, as the bids and awards committee and procurement offices take over to determine the ability of the firms to satisfy the BSP’s requirements. It is also these committees that check if the companies have the financial capability to undertake the project.
Rappler asked a central bank insider and two former employees regarding the G2G deal for the polymer banknotes. The agreement did not sit well with them.
“That should have been a competition [among companies]. The Philippines is not a small country, as far as market for banknotes is concerned. We have 110 million people,” a former official said.
Another source questioned the choice of the BSP to test polymer for P1,000 bills.
“Hindi naman nakikita ng ordinaryong tao itong P1,000 (Ordinary Filipinos rarely get hold of a P1,000 bill). If they really wanted to test that, dapat (they should’ve gone for) lower denominations,” another source said.
“May kikita kaya sa deal na ‘yan (Will somebody pocket money from that deal)? I certainly hope not. But the higher the denomination, the higher the production cost because there are more security features.”
(Source: Rivas, Ralf. "Australia to print Philippines' first polymer banknotes, Critics see red flags." Rappler. Nov 17, 2021.
Fishy? We leave it up to you to judge.
Additional Note: While it has been written above that RBA supplies the polymer banknotes of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand, these countries have retained their monarchs and important people on the obverse (front) side of their bills.
Let us continue the fight to save our heroes. Please continue to share and promote the petition to your friends and family, and keep those signatures coming!