Palace: Demonetizing P500, P1k bills needs more study

The proposal to demonetize P500 and P1,000 bills to make corruption more difficult to hide will need further study to “balance” its pros and cons, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

This was how Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro responded to the suggestion of former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima to demonetize larger bills to eventually stop corruption.

“So, pag-aaralan po, kasi kung hindi ito makakabuti at may negatibong epekto po ay pag-aaralan po para mabalanse po iyong mga pros and cons ng sina-suggest na ito,” Castro said.

(This will be studied. Because if this will not be beneficial and will have negative effects, then this needs to be studied to balance the pros and cons.)

In September, Purisima suggested that P500 and P1,000 bills be demonetized, adding that having only smaller bills would make it impractical and harder to hide corruption and move dirty money.

In a Facebook post, Purisima cited the “chilling” revelation of former Bulacan 1st district engineer Brice Hernandez that he delivered P1 billion placed in 20 suitcases that were transported through six or seven vans to former Ako Bicol partylist Rep. Zaldy Co.

He admitted that only having smaller bills in denomination is not foolproof, since “corruption will always look for ways to adapt.”

Purisima added that other countries have already done a similar move to demonetize larger bills to reduce money laundering, counterfeit cash, organized crime, and terror financing. — JMA, GMA Integrated News