20 Pesos

The Cebu Emergency Currency Board was one of dozens of local Philippine authorities that began issuing emergency notes almost immediately after the Japanese invasion of December 1941. With the Commonwealth government displaced and normal banking channels severed, provincial and municipal boards filled the vacuum — legally, under pre-war emergency powers legislation, though the practical authority behind these notes was whatever the local resistance could sustain.

Cebu held out longer than most. The island was not occupied until April 10, 1942, meaning these notes had a functioning, if desperate, economic life behind them. Once Japanese forces took control, all Commonwealth emergency currency was declared void, and most surviving stocks were either surrendered or destroyed to keep them from being used as evidence against their holders.

The S224 series is scarce precisely because its circulation window was so narrow — roughly three to four months at most.