100 Pesos Circulating note

The Philippine National Bank was established in 1916 primarily to extend agricultural credit and break the grip of private moneylenders on the rural economy — a policy ambition that outpaced the institution's capitalization almost immediately. By 1920 the bank was in serious financial trouble, having made large unsecured loans to sugar interests during the wartime boom. The collapse of sugar prices that same year triggered a liquidity crisis that nearly destroyed the institution entirely and required a major government bailout.

That this note was printed by the BEP in Washington rather than produced locally reflects the absence of any adequate printing facility in the islands at the time. The Philippine government remained dependent on Washington for its security printing well into the American colonial period.