Congratulations to education and health advocate Dr. Ofelia Samar-Sy, a native of Nabua, Camarines Sur, for being chosen by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as one of the 2025 Inquirer Women of Power Awardees.
The medical director of Ibalong Medical Center in Legazpi City and current Dean of the Bicol University College of Medicine is the spouse of Dr. Jullie P. Sy who hails from Virac.
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Last week, officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Southern Luzon Regional Office advised members of the public not to return what they believe to be a fake peso bill to the “passer.”
Instead, the BSP execs said, the “doubtful’ banknote should be surrendered to the BSP through any local bank, which will issue a temporary receipt in return.
They likewise discouraged stores or any business establishment from posting the supposedly “fake” bill and instead return it to the BSP through banks.
Bank Officer IV Paulette Gay Menguilla recalled that several years ago prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a resident of Legazpi City was arrested at San Andres port in Catanduanes when he tried to pay for food at a carinderia using a fake P500 bill.
The alert cashier refused to accept the counterfeit note and asked for other bills, prompting the customer to transfer to another store.
Luckily, the cashier refused to let go of the matter and told a nearby police officer, who accosted the man and found in his bag a quantity of similar counterfeit currency.
(NOTE: The man’s bag actually yielded a total of P28,000 in counterfeit P1,000 and P200 notes).
Menguilla also cited the case of vloggers who either burned Philippine banknotes or tore them up just for content purposes, with two of them being punished with a P20,000 fine and five years in prison.
Warning the public against the mutilation of banknotes and coins, the bank officer likewise recalled one Boy Tapang who used P1,000 bills to make a kite but he later apologized after paying a P20,000 fine.
A foreigner’s post about his ring made from P10 coin went viral but the post led to the arrest of three men in Siargao who made rings out of the coins and sold them, in violation of Republic Act 247 on the mutilation or destruction of any form of Philippine currency.
It makes you wonder if the mastermind behind the distribution of boxes of fake, xeroxed P500 bills during the 2001 election in Catanduanes could have been fined and jailed had aggrieved vote-sellers charged him for economic sabotage and violation of PD 247.
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This month, the Tribune is marking its 44th founding anniversary.
The actual date was supposed to be on the March 12, 2025 issue but three times in the past year, the issue number on the masthead was not updated.
Today’s issue indicates No. 1 for the 45th volume when it should be No. 3.
Appropriate adjustment will be made in the April 2 issue.
Our apologies to the readers and advertisers for the error.
We thank you for keeping faith in this paper’s task of keeping you informed.
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FIRST JOB. Porky was eighteen years old, friendly, and eager to do things right. He had just started his first job, as a delivery boy and general at a furniture warehouse. His first task was to go out for coffee. He walked into a nearby coffee shop carrying a large thermos. When the counterman finally noticed him, he held up the thermos.
“Is this big enough to hold six cups of coffee?” he said.
The counterman looked at the thermos, hesitated for a few seconds, then finally said, “Yeah. It looks like about six cups to me.”
“Good,” Porky said. “Give me two regular, two black, and two decaf.”