The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) called on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday to halt minting and stop the circulation of the new P1,000 polymer notes.
The group echoed the concerns of abaca farmers who will be affected by the production of the new polymer notes.
According to FFF president Dioscoro Granada, the BSP’s decision during the last administration to discontinue the use of abaca for bank notes production reduced the market and income of some 200,000 abaca farming families in 56 provinces.
He noted the BSP has disregarded the concerns of the Department of Agriculture and abaca industry stakeholders on the matter.
Abaca farmers’ livelihood is anchored on the traditional markets for abaca fiber, and one of them is the BSP Security Plant Complex, where all Philippine notes and coins are minted.
The group also noted complaints and apprehensions about the new bills’ non-suitability to handling practices by Filipinos and local climatic conditions.
The new note is said to be sensitive to creasing, folding, and may react to chemicals and high temperatures.
FFF supports a resolution filed recently by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III that seeks to investigate the alleged lack of transparency on the shift to polymers and its consequent impact on the average citizen, the abaca industry, and the business sector.
While abaca production grew by 9.8 percent in 2021, output in the first 2 months of 2022 showed a double-digit decline in the first 2 months of this year to 8,693.38 metric tons of abaca, 13.7 percent lower than 10,076.41 MT in the same period last year.
However, the Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) is confident of higher output by end-2022.
The Philippines earns about $100 million yearly from the manufacture and export of abaca-based products.
Philippine abaca products are sold to Germany, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and the US, among others.
Abaca remains one of the top agricultural commodities as the Philippines supplies more than three-fourths of the world’s total abaca fiber demand.
