BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill that prohibits and penalizes the hoarding of Philippine coins.
Cong. Jerry Treñas’ House Bill 4411 seeks to penalize violators with imprisonment for a maximum of eight years and a fine of not more than P300,000.
“My bill will deter hoarding in large amounts of coins and will ensure that the government will not spend so much minting additional coins,” Treñas (Lone District of Iloilo City) told Panay News.
Syndicates bring these coins in large amounts abroad for “various industrial uses,” he also claimed.
The coins are melted to get their metal content.
The hoarding of coins, according to Treñas, also leads to a shortage in small denominations of currency and lack of small change in various establishments.
“It is of paramount importance for us to ensure that our coins are properly circulated to maintain the stability and integrity of our currency,” the congressman said.
Under the bill, charitable institutions, private banks, banking financial institutions of the government, and government agencies and instrumentalities are exempted from the prohibition.
In the Senate, Sen. Lito Lapid filed a counterpart measure.
His measure, however, only penalizes any person guilty of coin hoarding with one year imprisonment and a fine of P100,000.
Lapid said keeping coins “threatens the sounds circulation of our coins.”/PN
