Are Filipinos running out of coins?

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Bureau of Customs have recorded past attempts of smuggling one peso coins for export and melting. Philippine coins are found to have more intrinsic value than face value specially the smaller one. When these coins are converted to raw materials, they are used to manufacture certain parts of mobile phones and computers.

The BSP said that there are currently about 20.8 billion coins in circulation which means there are roughly 207 coins per person and yet, how often have we even short changed at the store or with a cashier either asking for exact change or saying they have no small change. This is what the BSP calls an artificial coin shortage. They say people tend to keep their change in their wallets, piggy banks and other various containers rather than spending them. BSP said that there is no real coin shortage and they like people to spend their coins to buy things rather than use their bank notes.

Congressman Sonny Collantes filed a bill penalizing coin hoarding which is defined as possessing coins of legal tender beyond the requirements of regular business as may be determined by the BSP. House Bill 4411 which was authored by Representative Sonny Collantes would make coin hoarding punishable with 8 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than P300,000, The only exemptions are the charities, private banks, financial institutions and government agencies. A related bill filed by Representative Sherwin Gatchalian seeks to find retail stores that don't give exact change to their customers. So now, its about time we don't turn our nose up to small change since its a bigger deal than we realize. 

Acknowledgement:
Content Credit: ANC/Melissa Gecolea
Image Credit: Bryologue.com