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| Issuer | Philippines Commonwealth Bureau of Health - Culion Leper Colony (Palawan) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
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| Currency | Culion Leper Colony Peso (1913-1945) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain pale paper carrying two blocks of typewritten text. The upper inscription states authority of issue from the President of the Philippines, transmitted on 2/9/42 through the Commanding General, USAFFE, Iloilo. Below, a partially legible violet rubber stamp impression reads 'The Government of the Philippine Islands / Department of Public Instruction / Bureau of Health' with an indistinct countersignature. |
| Reverse lettering | Issued by Authority of the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES Transmitted 2/9/42 through the Commanding General, USAFFE, Iloilo THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS Department of Public Instruction Bureau of Health |
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| Comments |
Culion's leper colony scrip occupies a genuinely strange corner of monetary history. The Philippine Commonwealth's Bureau of Health maintained a parallel currency system at Culion specifically to prevent colony residents from introducing notes into general circulation — a public health quarantine measure expressed through economics. By 1942, the Japanese occupation had disrupted supply lines to the island, and this late Commonwealth issue was circulating alongside, and in competition with, Japanese Military Administration pesos flooding the archipelago.
Earlier Culion issues date back to 1913. The series ran across several decades with surprisingly consistent administrative intent, even as the political authority overhead changed hands repeatedly.