MANILA – The visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines is a historic one, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will be releasing limited edition coins to commemorate the momentous event.
The BSP will be releasing P50 coins and P500 coins by the last week of January 2015.
The P50-coin will be sold for P100 whole the P500-coin will be sold for P1,000 to cover production, packaging and other costs.
Limited edition P1,000- silver and P10,000-gold Papal commemorative coins will also be available in May 2015.
The P1,000-coin will be sold for P3,500 while the P10,000-coin will be sold for P25,000.
The coins are not available over the counter, and can be availed through order forms issued by the BSP.
Those who wish to reserve can download reservation forms for the P50 and P500-coins here, and for the P1,000 and P10,000-coins here.
The accomplished forms should then be submitted to papalcoins@bsp.gov.ph before the end of June 2015.
Those who sent forms will then receive a confirmation e-mail with the date when you can pay for and pick up the coins at the BSP.
The BSP said the coins are minted under a licensing agreement with the Vatican.
Significant events in the country’s history are commemorated by the BSP through the minting of coins, medals or overprints on Philippine banknotes.
Commemorative coins were also issued for the 1970 visit of Pope Paul VI, and for the 1981 and 1995 papal visits of Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis visited the Philippines from January 15 to 19. He made a quick trip to Tacloban in January 18 to celebrate Mass and meet survivors of Typhoon Yolanda.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
