abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 12/20/2010
MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Monday defended the printing of geographically-challenged Philippine maps and a rare parrot with the wrong-colored beak in the new editions of its peso bills.
Speaking to ANC, BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo said some of the alleged errors are not errors but "abstractions of reality."
"I don't think we want to describe them as errors. They are abstractions of reality. Abstractions in the sense that number 1, the map is not really complete in the sense that what we really wanted to show is the general geographical location of the 6 important World Heritage sites in the Philippines, for example, the Mountain Province which houses the Rice Terraces," he said in an interview on ANC's "Headstart."
A map on the 500-peso bill -- which carries portraits of President Benigno Aquino III's late parents -- mislocates Saint Paul's, a subterranean river that is designated as a UNESCO world heritage site.
A cartographer also noted that the location of Tubbataha Reef Marine Park on the map printed on the 1,000-peso bill is misplaced by around 400 kilometers, while excluding the Batanes group of islands.
Gunigundo said the artist's rendition on the maps is very justifiable because of space constraints. He added that "400 kilometers is too short a distance to be represented accurately in that map of Tubbataha."
He also noted that the artist purposely did not include all 7,107 islands of the Philippines in the map.
Regarding the wrong color on the blue-naped parrot, Gunigundo said the color could be a shortfall in the actual colors that came out while in the act of printing.
The reverse side of the new 500-peso (11 dollar) bill features a rare native bird, the blue-naped parrot, with its red beak incorrectly rendered in yellow and the tail feathers underneath colored green instead of yellow.
Gunigundo said the new bank notes were designed to lessen the incidence of counterfeiting.
"The most important thing is the issuance of the new generation bank notes, which is a response to the public's widespread outcry against counterfeiting," he said. He added that the anti-counterfeiting measures in the new bank notes "ensures the integrity of our currency."
BSP spokeswoman Fe de la Cruz has acknowledged the criticism, but said space constraints limited the artist's room for manoeuvre.
"In choosing the design..., we are always guided by our commitment to enrich the appreciation and knowledge of the Filipinos we honour on our banknotes, as well as the unique sites and species our country should be proud of," she said.
"For our banknotes we used an artist's rendition of the Philippine map that by virtue of space and aesthetics does not reflect all of our islands and the precise coordinates of each site," she told AFP.
"Nevetheless, we appreciate constructive comments and we will take these into account moving forward."
It was not the first time the central bank has been left red-faced over currency design. It was forced in 2005 to withdraw bills that misspelled the name of Gloria Arroyo, Aquino's predecessor as president.
The bill, which called her Gloria Arrovo, became a much sought-after collectors' item. With Agence France-Presse
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