The central bank on Wednesday advised the public to always verify the information they find online after claims of “Ang Bagong Lipunan” coins being reissued circulated on Facebook.
A week after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr won the 2022 national elections, Facebook user Creech Zurc shared images of the coins with the caption: “Congrats agad BankoCentral better than before!”
It was accompanied by an “ok hand” emoji.
The post has since earned 20,000 likes and reactions, almost 2,000 comments and 46,000 shares on Facebook.
A fact-check report has been written about it but there are still some Filipinos who continue to share the post on the platform.
It has also been tagged as containing “partly false information,” with a link to the fact-check report appearing simultaneously with the post.
Following the post’s continued resurgence, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas advised the public to “always verify information found in social media.”
“To fact-check such information, the public may visit the Notes and Coins section of the BSP’s official website –http://bsp.gov.ph,” it was quoted as saying.
The BSP also said that it did not release a new coin series.
The circulating post featured coins issued during late Ferdinand Marcos Sr‘s time.
The text “Ang Bagong Lipunan” or “The New Society” could be seen engraved on its reverse sides.
The phrase refers to Marcos Sr’s vision of an improved Philippines.
It was similar to Indonesian president Suharto’s “New Order Administration” which was committed to maintaining political order, economic development and removing mass participation in the political process.
Meanwhile, for Marcos Sr, his “New Society” vision included promises of Filipinos no longer living in poverty, hunger, corruption, mass deception and violence.
He claimed that Martial Law, which he imposed from 1972 to 1981, was a prelude to creating the “New Society.”
But the nine-year period saw various human rights abuses and corruption.
In relation to the coins, the BSP said that they were issued in 1975 and had been demonetized in 1998.
“The coins featured in the online post belong to the old Ang Bagong Lipunan (ABL) coin series. The ABL coin series was already considered demonetized after 2 January 1998,” a BSP representative told AFP Philippines last month.
A demonitized coin means that it could no longer be used as payment for goods and services since it is already phased out.
The coin series that are currently in circulation belongs to the “New Generation Currency.”