have you ever used the 5 or 10 centavos in paying for something?
By mapi26
@mapi26 (549)
Philippines
October 2, 2008 1:28pm CST
honestly i have tried paying it for my jeepney fare. it broke my heart when "manong" driver just threw it in his coin holder as if was not money.
do you also know that we have 1 centavo? it has the same size as the 5 centavos only it doesn't have a hole. we probably have not seen one for real as they are very difficult to find.
due to their low value, we often find it pretty useless -- as money. well for others they find it useful as key-rings, decoration, washers, etc.. but it's money for crying out loud. the government spends the same money for the minting of our coins. if we treat them useless, then perhaps it should no longer be in circulation right?
we usually get these 5 or 10 "sentimos" as a lose change from malls. and most of us do not even regard it as money, some even do throw it away. just imagine the thousand or millions of these centavos if its collected, it could alreayd feed homeless filipinos.
i'm not a hypocrite, i admit when i was still a student i don't give much attention to it as money. but now that i'm working & have high regards to the money that i earn, i even pick those centavos whenever i see them lying in the street.
it made me sad when i saw one jeepney with these philippine centavo coins which are then cemented by rugby in a piece of wood just near the driver's steering wheel.
i now have collected 5 & 10 centavos coin which i use form time to time & i have plans of donating it to the homeless (fastfood chains do have the can "piggy" bank).
how about you, what's your side on this? have you ever used the 5 or 10 centavos as money? or have you used it other than money?
4 people like this
10 responses
@ratyz5 (7808)
• Philippines
6 Oct 08
I have honestly have not seen that 1 centavo coin you mentioned.. I'm quite intrigued by it since I always see five and ten centavos and pick them up if I see them lying around somewhere.. at home, we have this tall bottle that also has a long neck and whenever we have fives or tens of centavos, we put them into that bottle. Then one time, my brother needed some loose change to pay for the fare.. just a few pesos short so he took some of the centavos from the bottle and went on his way..
In my coin purse, the lowest amount that I have so far is the twenty five centavos which I sometimes get to see on the streets and I every now and then pick up and put into a pocket.
The odd thing now-a-days would be that beggars don't even want to accept those low amounts.. as if the minimum that they accept from those who would give them loose change would be three pesos.. they wouldn't accept those centavos at all.. my brother even offered his sandwich one time and the beggar declined.. maybe he was still full? (-_-")
@ratyz5 (7808)
• Philippines
6 Oct 08
We still have old coins at home, I think we also have that Lapu-Lapu centavo, that five centavo with an old lady, that fifty centavo with that military personality, that twenty five with a butterfly, that cornered two peso with a coconut tree at the back, a one peso with a tamaraw and Jose Rizal, and also that big one peso coin with Rizal at front while some kind of emblem seal at the other side.. some old five peso coins and other old coins that my mom would put at the corners of our house every new year starts..
Though, I still haven't seen that one centavo coin which came along with the recent five and ten centavos that are still dealt with today.. I remember that I could still get them as change from grocery stores.. (-_- )
That one centavo is truly elusive it seems.. you got a photo of that centavo coin by any chance?
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
6 Oct 08
oh yeah we also have all of those coins! lol. in fact we have really old coins when we were colonnized by the americans. i guess that's one of the essence of having old parents. lol. i remember we did have the marcela coin as well. :)
i don't know how to paste a picture here in mylot (by any chance can you teach me how?)
anyway i could give you this link where you can check our 1 sentimo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Php_coin_0.01_obv.png
1 person likes this
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
6 Oct 08
i also encounter such beggars from time to time, i call them "beggars with attitude". i get pissed off sometimes with their attitude like that... like come on you're asking for money i'm gonna give you what i can afford then you decline. the more they give that attittude, the more that i decline giving. so much of the beggars..
going back on the centavos, it's good to hear you value thesa small denominations. i saw the 1 centavo in the internet & i want to have one!!! hehe
we do have the lapu-lapu 1 centavo but it's already not in circulation..
1 person likes this
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
2 Oct 08
oh my jeepney drivers again? oh i also use them in paying my bills! :)
i make it a point to pick 5, 10 or 25 centavos if i see them lying on the street. one time i did that a man sarcastically told me in filipino "sayang noh?". i know for a fact he is right but he could have said it in a nice way & not laughing like i was desperate picking coins. i was pissed off i just said to myself, you don't know how much i earn & with that i don't even mind picking centavo coins. oh well, i just hope that man knows the value of small denominations.
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
4 Oct 08
yup! it's a good thing big establishments accept it, why? kasi naman kapag naipon nga yon eh malaking tulong yun sa investment or profit nila. small minds just don;t see the difference at nakakaawa naman.. sana marealize nila yun.. earlier i was actually able to pick 15cents from the street. an added savings for me. :)
@dolce_vita78 (8062)
• Philippines
3 Oct 08
Hi there mapi26!
I still use the smaller or should I say, smallest, denominations of our currency. The 1 "sentimo" is still legal tender to date but I do not use it in any transaction anymore. I keep my one centavo coins in a coin bank. For the 5 and 10 centavo coins, well, I still use them. There are certain transactions when I use them. I actually make sure that I have at least 5 of each in my coin purse. Just in case I need them, they come in handy.
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
4 Oct 08
so you mean to say you have seen & you do have the new 1 sentimo? wow! i've been wanting to have one. i have only seen it in pictures. although we still have the 1 sentimo lapu-lapu coin as a collection. boy i should have a 1 sentimo! :)
oh yes i agree, keeping them in our pocket/wallets/coin ourse is still handy. as i have discussed in some of my added comments above, it comes handy. we just don't know when..
@nekonyanta (892)
• Philippines
4 Oct 08
Hi there. 
Yes, I still use five- and ten-centavo coins. As you said, malls give them out as change so that's where I more often than not use them - to pay for purchases in malls/groceries in return. I sometimes use them for paying bills too.
And yes, you're right. Coins, no matter how low in value, are still money, legal tender to a certain point, and should be used as such. I like your idea about saving up those coins and then donating them to charity. Maybe I will start doing that too. 
Yes, I still use five- and ten-centavo coins. As you said, malls give them out as change so that's where I more often than not use them - to pay for purchases in malls/groceries in return. I sometimes use them for paying bills too.
And yes, you're right. Coins, no matter how low in value, are still money, legal tender to a certain point, and should be used as such. I like your idea about saving up those coins and then donating them to charity. Maybe I will start doing that too. @mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
4 Oct 08
well that's one thing i have in mind, with all the centavos that i have, i can't use them all in paying bills or in the mall since this is not an everyday transaction. so charity is one thing i think of. and besides if jeepney drivers are complaining getting this, children who will benefit from this donation will never complain. and from there money serves it's purpose. i'm still thinking of other ways of how to use it... one mylotter (i forgot his pen name) has an idea of excahing them for money, try reading some, it's somewhere here.. it sounds fun :)
@sandymay16 (1617)
• Philippines
3 Oct 08
I use the coins all the time in grocery stores and department stores so the cashier will give me change of the whole 1 peso. I also put it in a jar then bring it to church for the fellowship of the least coin.
I have experienced that in Manila that drivers won't accept loose change but here in our city tricycle drivers accept the coins mush better if you roll that in scotch tape. They use it to pay at the gasoline stations where this station need them for changes too.
@cornelio03 (152)
• Philippines
3 Oct 08
I keep these ten, five and one centavo coins even though the jeepney drivers won't accept it. I used these coins to pay meralco bills, deposit in banks and pay groceries at shoemart. These establishments are more than happy to get them.
Although these coins are not useful to most people, it is still needed. These currency demonimations are here for a purpose.
@aseretdd (13730)
• Philippines
3 Oct 08
I am currently saving all my 5 % 10 centavo bills... and i plan to use it when i go grocery shopping at SM... it irritates me when they would ask me for like loose change... since they should be prepared to have lots of that before they go out and do their job as cashiers...
With the rest... i plan to just deposite them in the bank together with the other coins that i saved...
@markroderick (888)
• Philippines
2 Oct 08
Of course ive used to pay 5 or 10 centavos in paying something but not all the price maybe a total of 2 pesos the maximum. And sometimes if i go to the grocery i put it in the bantay bata can at least even its just a cents but it can also help kids in other ways right? beside it's still money. I know some people neglect cents but without 1 cent you cant make a peso right?
@belk89 (1103)
• Philippines
2 Oct 08
A centavo is as important as a paper money. The bank even encourage us to collect our coins and exchange it to bank coz they really need it to make another coins. If the central bank cant collect enough coins to make a new one it means cost since they need to buy the materials to make another coins. That is how important centavos are. Not to mention that we never reach 100 without starting from the smallest number. What the driver did to you is inapropriate. I guess his one of those ignorant people who doesnt seem to know the value of a coins.
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
2 Oct 08
that's one thing I'm thinking as well, i remember he even scratched his head when he saw the centavo coins. as with the jeep that has ornamental centavo coins, he could have used that as change for commuters fare. indeed they are ignorant & i pity them. i'm wondering why of all people who don't value those centavos, they are the ones who earn less. no offense guys. i remember one related story my brother told me, a beggar was asking money from him & he gave loose change with 1 peso & 25 centavos... instead of the beggar taking it, he threw it away & even said that the lowest he could give should be 10. my brother was disgusted, picked the coins & went away. what's up with them right? it's like simple math, 25 cents multiplies by 4 is 1 peso & so on..
