On March 24, 2012, Katherine Visconti published a news article by at About Philippines titled, “P500-Bill with Marcos face was never circulated.” Here, she revealed that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) once designed a P500-bill that features the face of the late, former President Ferdinand Marcos, but was never circulated because of politics.

The said P500-bill with Marcos was designed by artist Romeo Castillo MananQuil, who revealed the story in an article at Celebrate Magazine of Toronto, Canada in 2008, titled, "How I 'Made Money' for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” which was also published on his official website. According to him, the BSP approved his smiling Marcos portrait.

But as we all know, the BSP never released the Marcos P500-bill face for public use. It was set for mass production in the late 1985, the same year when the snap election between Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon “Cory” Aquino was held. Marcos was ousted via the 1986 EDSA Revolution People Power, Cory Aquino replaced him as president.

Soon after, then-President Cory Aquino ordered the redesign of the P500-bill to place his late husband, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, instead of Marcos, and it was released in 1987. In 2010, then-president Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III ordered the redesign of the P500-bill to include the portrait of his late mother, Cory beside Ninoy.

Fast forward, the body of the late-president Marcos was finally burried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) on November 18, 2016. This is after President Rodrigo Duterte approved it, and the Supreme Court (SC) ruled out that it is in accordance with the law. But as expected, anti-Marcos groups and self-claimed Martial Law victims protested.

With that, I am humbly requesting the BSP to release a P500-bill with the face of the late-president Marcos on it in 2017, replacing the images of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. I strongly believe that the Marcos hero's burial is a valid reason for doing so. After all, your good agency has already approved it before, and I think now is the right time to pursue it.

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