1 Peso

Taft is a small municipality on the eastern coast of Samar, and like dozens of Philippine local governments during the Japanese occupation, it printed its own emergency currency when the Japanese Military Administration notes failed to reach or were refused in outlying areas. These municipal guerrilla pesos — some authorized by the Philippine Commonwealth government-in-exile, others simply pragmatic local solutions — were produced under conditions that made consistent quality impossible. Hand-stamped signatures, irregular paper stocks, and improvised printing equipment are the norm for Samar provincial issues.

Survival rates are low. Most circulated hard and were destroyed or abandoned when American forces returned in 1944.