5 Varieties 2 PESOS Philippine MINDANAO
WW2 Emergency Banknote Treasury
Emergency Currency Certificates authorized by the President of the Commonwealth
of the Philippines F-
VF condition. Including varieties. S496
- 1943 Series DD. Serial # 1 - 68,000 S516-A
- Series D, Series 1944 is 11 1/2mm long
(narrow date) S516-B
- Series D, Series1944 is 17 mm long
(wide date) S524
- 1944, No Series Letter. Serial # 1 - 32,200
S536
- 1945, Series D. Serial # 1 - 56,000
Mindanao Currency Board Japanese
invasion forces landed in 1942 and quickly broke through the defenses of the
poorly equipped and mostly untrained USAFFE forces. In obedience to
Gen. Wainwright's orders, Gen. William F. Sharp surrendered the
Visayan-Mindanao Force on May 10, but it was not until May 27 that the final
surrender took place in Mindanao. In the
meantime thousands of soldiers took to the hills. In Lanao, Lt.
Col. Wendell W. Fertig began uniting the guerrillas under his command. In
September he proclaimed the establishment of the United States Forces in the Philippines,
(USFIP) Mindanao-Sulu Command, with his assumed rank of Brigadier General.
Lanao, Misamis Occidental and the northern part of Zamboanga were under his
command with Free provincial governments functioning, but it would require
another year before all of Mindanao was united
under his command and free provincial governments could be established in other
provinces. One of the
major problems confronting Gen. Fertig was the matter of money with which to
finance both the military force and civil governments. This was temporarily
solved when Fertig learned that the Misamis Occidental Currency Committee had
issued only a fraction of the currency it had been authorized to print. In
December 1942 Fertig ordered the Committee to print the unissued balance of the
authorized amount. In February
1943 Fertig established radio contact with Gen. MacArthur in Australia and was
designated by MacArthur as Commanding Officer of the 10th Military District
(Mindanao and Sulu), with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In the
meantime, Lt. Sam Wilson, supervisor of the pre-surrender printing of currency
by the Mindanao Emergency Currency Board, had joined Fertig and told him that
this Board also had printed only a part of its authorized amount. Fertig
promptly radioed MacArthur of his intentions to reconstitute this Board with
new members (original members had surrendered) and resume printing currency
under the authority previously granted by President Quezon. MacArthur passed
the message on to President Quezon in Washington, who promptly granted his
approval. Thus, the second Mindanao Emergency Currency Board came into being. The new Board
consisted of Judge Florentino Saguin as Chairman, with Misamis Occidental
Provincial Treasurer Filomena D. Pacana and Provincial Auditor Ireneo Barbasa
as Members. Maj. Sam Wilson
(guerilla rank) was assigned to get printing operations underway. Wood border
cuts were made for the face of the 2 Pesos note, and for both face and back of
the 10 and 20 Pesos notes. The 5 Pesos notes were printed from the same border
cuts previously made for the Misamis Occidental printing (#S578). Other
denominations were printed entirely from metal type. Printing
operations began on April 5, 1943 at the Rosito Z. Bacarro press in the barrio
of Matugas, Municipality
of Jiminez, Misamis
Occidental. On June 26, the Japanese invaded Misamis Occidental. At the press
site thousands of pesos in partly printed currency were burned. The presses
were dismantled and hidden in the hills along with printing supplies. At
Oroquieta, Treasurer Pacana hastily packed 702,619.30 pesos into sacks and
evacuated to the hills. Driven out of
Misamis Occidental, Col. Fertig relocated his headquarters in the barrio
Liangan, Municipality of Kolumbugan, Lanao Province.
As currency supplies dwindled, Fertig requested that the printing be done in Australia.
MacArthur rejected the proposal. Printing supplies, yes; printing currency, no. Maj. Sam Wilson
was assigned the difficult task of getting the presses to Liangan. It took ten
days to move the heavy presses from their hiding place in the hills down to the
coast. THey were moved by the banca across Iligan Bay
at night to avoid Japanese naval patrols. Printing resumed at Liangan on
September 6 and ended November 1, 1943 when supplies ran out. As Japanese
activity increased in the Lanao area, Fertig moved his headquarters to
Esperanza in Agusan
Province. The presses
were moved by water transport along the coast and then up the Agusan River. In the meantime
the cargo submarine USS NARWHAL had delivered 90 tons of supplies at Nasipit.
Among the supplies were 30 boxes of paper, 27 cans of ink and dryer and 84
metal plates made in Australia
for printing currency. Printing
resumed at Esperanza on December 13, 1943 using the metal plates. As no metal
plates had been made for either the 5 Centavos or 20 Pesos denominations, these
were printed from the same metal type and wood border cuts as previously.
Printing ended on January 23, 1944 when supplies ran out. Once again
stepped up Japanese military activity necessitated moving the presses to a
safer area. In early February they were moved up the river to Loreto, Agusan.
Printing finally got underway on March 18, 1944 after more supplies were
delivered by USS NARWHAL. The Japanese
garrisoned Butuan, Agusan, using it as a base of operations and almost daily
planes bombed the towns along the river. Esperanza was reduced to rubble, and
on July 5, 1944 Loreto was bombed. As further attacks were expected, the
presses were dismantled and hidden, and press personnel evacuated to a safer
area. It was October
before the Japanese attack abated enough to allow the press personnel to return
to Loreto. Printing resumed on November 4, 1944 but was halted in mid-November
on instructions from Col. Fertig. Immediately
after printing had ceased at Loreto in July, Sam WIlson and two printing
technicians left there carrying with them some of the printing plates. They
hiked over mountains to the coast of Misamis Occidental
where they obtained transportation by banca along the coast to Dipolog,
Zamboanga. The trip took the greater part of two months. At Dipolog,
arrangements were made for use of a small press owned by the Rev. Angel Soto.
Printing resumed at the barrio of Tingkugas on September 14 and continued until
October 6, 1944 when paper supplies ran out. It was not
until February 27, 1945 after new paper supplies had been brought in by
submarine, that printing operations were resumed at the barrio Estaka. On March
8, 1945 the first American liberation forces landed at the guerrilla-held
airfield at Dipolog. Military operations placed the press site in jeopardy, so
printing was stopped to permit the press to be moved to a safer location. Printing
resumed at the barrio of Calamba, Municipality
of Plaridel, Misamis
Occidental on April 1, 1945. Printing operations ceased on April 22, on order
of Col. Fertig, thus ending the printing of currency by the second Mindanao
Emergency Currency Board. Meanwhile, back
at Loreto in Agusan
Province, printing
operations had resumed on January 2, 1945. As there was only a small stock of
paper on hand it was soon exhausted and printing ended on January 5. This
printing is mentioned last, as these were only notes dated Series 1945. A total of 23,613,415
pesos was printed by the second Mindanao Emergency Currency Board. ON GRADING
The grade I gave is just my opinion and may differ from others. Grading is subjective and not an exact science. Please take a look at the photo and grade it accordingly. Several subjective factors of personal preference may be considered different by others. These include paper texture, quality, color, folds, markings, stains and overall eye appeal.
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