Osmeña: BSP yet to determine maximum amount of coins a person can keep

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has yet to determine the maximum amount and weight of coins that can be considered legal to keep, a lawmaker said Monday.

"The BSP still has difficulty establishing a max amount," Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate's committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, told GMA News Online on Monday.

A committee hearing was held Monday to discuss Senate Bill 2452 and 239 and House Bill 4411, which seek to penalize coin hoarding.

"I cannot sponsor this in the floor yet until you [BSP] can give me an acceptable and reasonable limit on the amount and weight of coins that can be kept and considered as legal or illegal," Osmeña told the committee hearing on Monday.

"If the limit is unreasonable, we will all be hailed to court as soon as this measure is approved by Congress and signed into law by the president. We have to study this carefully," he said.

The House of Representatives approved HB 4411 on third and final reading last May.

HB 4411 defines hoarding of coins as "keeping or possession by any person not engaged in business of legal tender coins of the Philippine currency beyond the aggregate value, number of pieces and weight to be determined by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or the keeping or possession by any person engaged in the business of such coins beyond the aggregate value, number of pieces and weight to be determined by the BSP."

According to the proposed measure, a penalty of eight years of imprisonment and a fine of not less than the face value or intrinsic value of the coins, whichever is higher, but not exceeding P300,000, shall be imposed on any person who hoards coins.

According to Osmeña's office, a technical working group (TWG) meeting between BSP representatives and Osmeña and his team will meet to discuss the technical details of the proposed measure. — BM, GMA News