Philippine Currency in Transition 1837–1861 & 1899–1903
NUMISMATIC HISTORY & INSIGHT
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The independence of the Latin American states disrupted the traditional supply of Spanish-American coins to the Philippines.
Since these coins had long been an important part of Philippine commerce, many continued to circulate and were accepted through counterstamping and countermarking.
Before the Manila Mint: Philippine Currency, 1837–1861
By 1837, this system began to change. A Spanish royal order issued in 1836 requiring Manila to publish annual tables establishing the value of coins from the newly independent American states against the Spanish peso.
The same order ended the recoinage of American money. This allowed coins from the new Latin American republics to continue circulating without the earlier system used to validate them. At around the same period, coins minted in Peninsular Spain were also introduced into Philippine circulation.
Spanish pesetas were already being accepted by 1836, while the Hacienda ordered the importation of Spanish copper coins. According to Celestina Boncan, the first shipment of these Peninsular copper coins arrived on November 18, 1837.
By the late 1840s, Spanish and Spanish-American coins had become the principal currency circulating in the Philippines. A contemporary account from 1848–1850 by Robert MacMicking describes Spanish and South American dollar pieces as the principal money in circulation and specifically mentions Spanish, Mexican, Chilean, Río de la Plata and Bolivian coins. Spanish gold doubloons and copper coins were also in use, although copper coins remained scarce.
This created a mixed currency system in which coins from Spain circulated alongside coins from the former Spanish colonies in Latin America. Silver coins formed an important part of this circulation, together with Spanish gold and copper coins. While Latin American silver coins are well documented, there is currently not enough evidence to say that Latin American copper coins were also commonly used in the Philippines.
This mixed currency system continued until the establishment of the Manila Mint.
Beginning in 1861, the Philippines started producing its own decimal coins, and an order was issued for Spanish-American silver coins to be withdrawn and replaced by coins struck at the Manila Mint.
The change was gradual, however, and foreign coins—particularly Mexican pesos—continued to play an important role in Philippine commerce even after local minting began.
From Spanish Currency to U.S.-Philippine Coinage, 1899–1903
The end of Spanish rule in the Philippines did not immediately end the monetary system that Spain left behind. During the First Philippine Republic, the revolutionary government attempted to establish its own currency by issuing copper coins and paper notes. However, this currency was short-lived and was eventually withdrawn following the fall of the Republic.
When the Americans took control of the Philippines, they inherited much of the existing monetary system from the Spanish period. Instead of a single standardized currency, different coins continued to circulate, including Mexican pesos, Spanish and Spanish-Philippine coins, foreign coins and banknotes. The continued presence of these older currencies is confirmed by early American-period legislation, which still recognized Mexican, Spanish and Spanish-Philippine money in circulation.
This mixed monetary system presented a challenge for the new American administration. To establish a more uniform currency, the Philippine Coinage Act of 1903 created a new monetary system based on a Philippine peso valued at two pesos to one U.S. dollar. New silver, and copper coins were produced specifically for circulation in the Philippines. Subsequent legislation provided the funds needed to produce and introduce the new coinage.
The introduction of the new coins did not immediately remove the older currencies. Mexican pesos, Spanish and Spanish-Philippine coins continued to circulate during the transition while the government gradually established the new Philippine currency. By 1904, legislation was already being used to manage and phase out these older forms of money.
Two Transitions in Philippine Monetary History
The periods 1837–1861 and 1899–1903 show a similar pattern in Philippine monetary history. Political change did not immediately change the money used by the population.
In both periods, the Philippines continued using a mixture of existing and foreign currencies until a new monetary system was established.
In 1861, the establishment of the Manila Mint began the transition toward locally minted Philippine decimal coinage. Four decades later, the Coinage Act of 1903 again transformed the country's monetary system, this time introducing the U.S.-Philippine coinage that would gradually replace the mixture of currencies inherited from the Spanish period.
References & Sources:
MacMicking, Robert. "Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines, During 1848, 1849, and 1850". London: Richard Bentley, 1851.
Blair, Emma Helen, and James Alexander Robertson, eds. "The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898, Vol. LI: 1801–1840". Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1907.
Boncan, Celestina P. “The Copper Coinage of the Cabildo of Manila.” Philippine Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4 (1985).
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. “History of Philippine Money,” Coins and Notes – History of Philippine Money, section “Revolutionary Period, 1898–1899.”
Philippine Commission, Act No. 608 (1903), Act No. 1045 (1904) and Act No. 731, April 8, 1903, Sec. 1.
Yap, Eldrich, and Janssen Bantugan. "U.S.P.I Philippine Coinage Under American Sovereignty." Philippines, 2018.
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