Philippines P-110 5 Pesos 1943 F-VF—Rizal—Japanese Occupation

A relic of one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history — this 5 Pesos note was issued by the Japanese Imperial Government during its wartime occupation of the Philippines, and is today one of the most collected pieces of Pacific War numismatics.

Front

• Color: [verify from scan]
• Rizal Monument, Manila — at left
• Lettering: THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT / FIVE PESOS / 5
• Japanese inscription: 大日本帝國政府 (Greater Japan Imperial Government) / 大藏大臣 (Minister of Finance)

Back

• Color: Red on decorative border
• Value at centre in red decorative border
• Lettering: 5 PESOS

Other Characteristics

• Catalog numbers: P-110; TBB B810; Numista N#203952
• Watermark: Banana tree
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 160 × 68 mm
• Issuing entity: Greater Japan Imperial Government
• Demonetized: Yes
• Currency: Japanese government-issued Philippine peso (1942–1945)

The Hero They Used Against His Own People

José Rizal (1861–1896) is the national hero of the Philippines — a novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, and revolutionary thinker who was executed by the Spanish colonial government at age 35 for inspiring the independence movement. The Rizal Monument in Luneta Park (Rizal Park), Manila, marks the spot where he was shot. It is the most sacred civic site in the Philippines. The Japanese occupation government's decision to put it on their currency was deliberate and cynical: by invoking the symbol of Filipino nationalism, they sought to legitimize their rule and suggest continuity with Philippine identity. It didn't work. Filipino guerrilla resistance was among the most sustained in all of occupied Asia.

Mickey Mouse Money

Filipinos had a nickname for Japanese occupation currency: Mickey Mouse money. The Japanese printed it in enormous quantities with no gold or silver backing, causing hyperinflation so severe that by 1944 a single duck egg cost 75 pesos. People carried the notes in bayong (woven baskets) because wallets couldn't hold enough bills to buy basic food. When the war ended and General MacArthur returned, the occupation currency was declared worthless overnight. Filipinos who had hoarded it — sometimes their entire life savings — lost everything. The bitterness of that loss echoed for generations. Today these notes are collected precisely because they are physical evidence of that economic violence.

About the Philippines

• Origin of name: Named Las Islas Filipinas by Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543, in honor of Prince Philip of Asturias, later King Philip II of Spain.
• Capital: Manila (city pop. ~1.8 million; metro pop. ~14 million)
  • Origin of name: From may nilad — there is nilad — referring to the white-flowered mangrove plant that once lined the shores of Manila Bay.
• Population: ~115 million (UN 2023) — comparable to Mexico or Ethiopia
• Area: 300,000 km² (115,831 mi²) — slightly larger than Italy
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$10,700 (IMF 2023)
• Main exports: Semiconductors and electronics, machinery, coconut products, bananas, remittances
• Borders: No land borders — archipelago of 7,641 islands; maritime neighbors include China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Palau
• Ethnicities: Tagalog (~28%), Visayan groups (~33%), Ilocano, Bicolano, and over 175 ethnolinguistic groups
• Memberships: UN (founding member, 1945); ASEAN (founding member, 1967); G20 partner
• Sovereignty: Independence from the United States proclaimed July 4, 1946

Philippines Unfiltered

• The Philippines is the only country in Asia where Christianity is the dominant religion — over 80% of the population is Roman Catholic, a legacy of 333 years of Spanish colonial rule.
• Overseas Filipino Workers send home over $36 billion a year in remittances — roughly 9% of GDP — making the diaspora one of the country's most important economic engines.
• The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has more than 20 active volcanoes; it is also struck by an average of 20 typhoons per year.
• Manila was the second most destroyed Allied capital city of World War II, after Warsaw — the Battle of Manila in 1945 killed an estimated 100,000 civilians in a single month.
• The Philippine Sea contains the deepest point ever recorded in any ocean — the Emden Deep in the Philippine Trench reaches approximately 10,540 meters.

Own this note and hold a piece of wartime history — printed by an occupying empire, spent in a country that refused to surrender, and demonetized the moment liberation came. Mickey Mouse money, they called it. But there is nothing funny about what it represents.