Sunday, January 9, 2011

Unscientific new PH Peso?

It seems everyone has pitched in about what is wrong with the new Philippine currency note series. Some of the criticisms are about the:
  • color of the parrot's beak, (or neck, I am not sure at the moment)  in the PhP500.00
  • location of the Tubbataha Reefs in the PhP1000.00
My favorite gadfly, a reliable one, Calipjo Go, also pointed out that using the butanding in the PhP100.00 sounds as if the Philippines is claiming, or at least the Bangko Sentral, that the butanding in the Bicol seas are native to the Philippines.

Bangko Sentral has explained the problems concerning the parrot and the Tubbataha Reefs. See here. The critique of Mr. Go, I think, has been deftly answered by Rodel Batocabe. See here

But I have not heard a howl from the scientific community. I cannot believe there is no numismatist among Philippine scientists. So let me weigh in with my 20 cents worth of opinion; more accurately, 20 pesos worth.

Here's a portion of the obverse side of the new  PhP20.00.

I am sure MLQ3 is very proud of his grandpa in this portrait.  (Manolo has vanished from blogosphere. I heard he is again roaming the grounds of  the former official residence of his grandpa. It would not be the first time. He was also there in the early days of the former administration.)

But were he a biologist he would have noticed that the convention in writing a scientific name has been violated in the new series of the Philippine Peso bills:
  • the genus is always underlined or italicized
  • the specific epithet is always underlined or italicized
  • the first letter of the specific epithet name is never capitalized
Here's the reverse side of the same bill. Take a look at the scientific name of the palm civet. (The line enclosing the scientific name was later added in MS Paint just in case I might be accused of violating PD 247)


The same problem holds true in the higher denominations.