MikeLigalig.com

by PNA

A display of Spanish-era banknotes, a circa 1980s automated teller machine, and a calculator that weighs 42 pounds in a bank museum can tell varied tales of progress and development in the country’s history.

These and other artifacts can be found in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Museum in Cebu, the first museum in the country located inside an operational bank, museum consultant Jojo Bersales said.

”The ups and downs of history are reflected on the items on display,” he said.

The building itself on Magallanes St., here, near the Cebu City Hall, was declared a heritage treasure. It was built in 1924.

”The museum cuts into the bank with the bank operating in the center,” he said.

But Bersales said security measures were strengthened. Anyone who wanted to visit the museum should be by appointment only, he said.

It was BPI that first issued banknotes in the country, and one of the items on display is the first bank note, which is actually a letter stating that the note represents a particular amount.

Another is an 1855 leather bound book of records, the handwritten journal of the daily operations of the Banco Espanol Filipino de Isabel II.

The accounts book dates back to the day before the Japanese invasion of the country or on April 9, 1942.

Bersales said it contained a list of accounts and personnel working at the bank.

He said the list included the names of “enemies or friendly nationals” that the occupying forces could use to identify the properties that could be confiscated.

The amount of money inside the bank before the Japanese occupation was P708,884.06, based on a ledger on display at the World War II-era gallery.

One of the priceless documents kept within glass display cases pertains to the 1931 acquisition from Augustinian friars of the corner lot where BPI Cebu stands. The first page entry is dated Jan. 12, 1931, with the purchase price, including taxes, of P65,610.

Also on display are copies of the original sheets of building plans by Juan Marcos Arellano, a nationally renowned architect from Manila and one of the first American-educated Filipino architects. He also designed the Cebu Capitol building.

Large steel vaults line one side of the gallery, which were from different BPI branches. One of these is more than a hundred years old, built in 1897.

The exhibit shows notes and coins from the Spanish-Philippine period, the American administration, Commonwealth, and Japanese occupation. The new banknotes under the Aquino administration are also on display.

A rare museum piece is the P100,000 bill that measures 8.5 inches by 14 inches. Only 1,000 pieces were printed.

There is also the P2,000 bank note, of which only 300,000 pieces were printed.

Also on display are calculators that are several pounds heavier and bigger than their modern counterparts.

One such item is the SRW calculator that weighs 42 pounds. It has only addition and square root functions.

There are also the large accounting machines, comptometers and typewriters.

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