On June 19, 2008, in commemoration of the UP Centennial, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the University of the Philippines launched the 100-peso UP Centennial Notes at the BSP Security Plant Complex on East Avenue, Quezon City.

The 100-peso UP Centennial Note is a commemorative edition of the 100-peso bill with the Oblation, the University’s symbol, printed over the watermark. The notes are now available at the UP Office of the Vice President for Administration (OVPA) as four-outs (four uncut pieces) in a specially designed folder featuring the signatures of all UP presidents, including the Centennial president, Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman.

BSP Governor Tetangco and President Roman show the UP Centennial
“four-outs” to media.

During the launch, President Roman said the notes had a value “beyond their actual worth as money, beyond their worth as mementos of our Centennial, or even as the collector’s item that they are bound to become.” She said that for UP, “they represent a statement of confidence, a confirmation, that what happens in UP is significant to the BSP—and because of BSP’s own importance as a national institution—to the rest of the country as well.”

The notes, she added, “contain the message that other Philippine institutions, and individual Filipinos as well, feel that they have a stake in UP, too.”

The launch coincided with the signing of a deed of donation between UP and the BSP amounting to around 9.5 million pesos, which will be used to upgrade seven existing BSP professorial chairs in the College of Business Administration, School of Economics, and School of Statistics in UP Diliman; and the College of Agriculture in UP Los Baños. The professorial chairs were established during the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the University in 1983. The funds were handed over to the UP Foundation, Inc. and the UP Business Research Foundation, Inc. President Roman cited the generous donation as additional proof of BSP’s interest and concern for the country’s National University.

Aside from the seven professorial chairs, BSP had donated a Professorial Sterling Chair each to the UP School of Economics and UP School of Statistics. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the research generated by these professorial chairs will not only benefit policy-makers but also those in government who are involved in keeping the Philippines on a broad-based and sustained growth path.

For more information on the centennial notes and other UP Centennial souvenir items, interested parties may contact the OVPA at (632) 9256721 or (632) 9250984, and look for Jovie or Billy.