BSP hikes amount of old bills balikbayans can have exchanged

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced on Monday that it had increased the maximum amount of old peso bills, known as the New Design Series bills or NDS bills, overseas Filipinos (OFs) can have exchanged.

"(T)he Monetary Board approved on 8 September 2016, the increase in the allowable amount to be exchanged by OFs under the NDS (New Design Series) Banknote Exchange Facility from P10,000 to P50,000," the BSP said in an emailed statement.

The BSP had announced earlier that the NDS, peso bills launched in 1985, would fully lose their monetary value starting January 1, 2017, as they would be replaced by the New Generation Currency (NGC) launched in 2010.

While the NDS notes may no longer be used for transactions, they may still be exchanged in banks until the yearend, before they completely lose their monetary value in 2017.

For OFWs, they may exchange their old peso bills by placing a reservation for NGC notes through online registration at orbs.bsp.gov.ph. The registration period was from October 1, 2016 until December 31, 2016.

"OFs who will be able to register their NDS banknote holdings within this registration period have one year from date of registration to present their original passport and printed confirmation notice to any BSP office for the processing of the NDS exchange," the central bank said.

Meanwhile, those deployed to countries with a geopolitical crisis during the registration period and will thus not be able to register their NDS banknote holdings, need only to present their original passport with an exit stamp by authorities from war-torn countries or other countries that served as exit points for repatriation to any BSP office for processing.

This may be done from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, subject to the P50,000 limit.

"All NDS banknote holdings submitted for exchange shall be subject to the usual piece by piece verification," the BSP added.

OFs may also contact the BSP through its help desk CIIOhelpdesk@bsp.gov.ph. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News