5 Pesos

One of dozens of emergency guerrilla and municipal currencies that proliferated across the Philippine archipelago following the Japanese invasion of December 1941. With the Commonwealth government in exile and Japanese Military Administration notes being forced into circulation, local officials in isolated municipalities issued their own scrip to keep commerce functioning. Cuyo, the principal island of what is now Palawan province, was geographically remote enough that Japanese occupation was intermittent rather than total, giving local authorities unusual room to operate.

The embossed seal and three-signature authentication — treasurer, mayor, and justice of the peace — reflect a deliberate attempt at legal legitimacy under the circumstances. Feliciano's inclusion as justice of the peace was a notarization device, not standard practice on Philippine municipal scrip generally.