Philippines new note family has errors

According to a number of sources, the new notes introduced by the Philippines on 16 December 2010 are rife with errors. The back of the 500-peso note 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. Also, the maps on the back of various notes supposedly misidentify the location of certain geographic features.

Central bank spokeswoman Fe de la Cruz 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 honor 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. Nevetheless, we appreciate constructive comments and we will take these into account moving forward."