5 Pesos Circulating note, Blue seal, Yellow back

The Philippine National Bank was established in 1916 partly to break the stranglehold of foreign commercial banks — primarily British and American — on agricultural credit in the islands. These circulating notes were authorized under the PNB's charter to function as legal tender, a privilege unusual for a state-owned commercial bank and one that made the institution a direct instrument of colonial economic policy under the American administration.

The BEP's involvement meant the plates never left Washington, creating a logistical dependency that would become awkward during the Japanese occupation two decades later. The yellow back is a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure specific to this series, not a design affectation.