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MANILA - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is confident that the new coin designs to be officially launched this July would not cause confusion among the public.

Diwa Guinigundo, central bank's Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector, said Tuesday that differences among the coins are easy to spot and that people just have to look at them closely to tell them apart.

"Kapag binasa o tiningnan nino man, 'yung P5 maliwanag 'yung '5.' Kung titingnan mo naman 'yung piso, maliwanag rin 'yung '1.' So hindi dapat malilito ang ating mga kababayan kung titingnan lamang nila ang denominasyon," he told DZMM radio.

(When you read or look closely, the '5' is clear in the P5. When you look at the P1, the '1' is also clear. So the public shouldn't be confused if they only look at the denomination.)

He said the new designs were a result of two years of study.

"'Yung P5 natin na bago, nandiyan naman 'yung mukha ni [Andres] Bonifacio. Sa P1 naman, nandiyan ang mukha ni Jose Rizal. E magkaibang-magkaiba naman ang mukha," he added.

(Our new P5, there's Bonifacio's face. On the P1, there's Jose Rizal's face. They are very distinct.)

Guinigundo also said that the P5 coins are noticeably bigger, thicker and heavier than the P1 coins.

He said the BSP would slowly roll out these coins so the public could get used to the new designs.

He said the law allows changing coin designs every 10 years to keep up with new technologies on security and to avoid counterfeiting.