[LOOK] P500 Marcos Bank Note

P500 Marcos Bank Note

For 30 years it has eluded the eyes of many, most wouldn’t even know its’ existence.

This note is cited for it’s extreme rarity, due to the fact that it never reached circulation and all notes were destroyed.

Mr. Romeo MananQuil, the banknote’s designer himself, noted in his site that in the late 1985, his 500-peso Marcos bill was slated for production. However, when a snap election was scheduled, the circulation of the newly printed bills was put on hold in deference to the law against electioneering as Marcos.

After the success of People’s Power in February 1986 and the instatement of Aquino as President, she soon ordered the redesign of the 500 bill to honour her husband “Ninoy” and ordered the destruction of all of the Marcos 500 banknotes that not a single piece be left.

Yet here’s a piece of history which someone was able to preserve, probably the only existing copy of the note. The banknote which might have been, but never was.