Ang Bagong Lipunan Series (1975-1982)

After the declaration of Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, effectively making him a dictator, the Philippine coinage would again be changed to “Ang Bagong Lipunan” (The New Society) series in 1975 or what we commonly call now as the “ABL” series with ABL being the acronym for “Ang Bagong Lipunan”. These coins would bear the slogan “Ang Bagong Lipunan” to commemorate the change in government. One can safely say these are Martial Law era coins. These coins went in circulation starting 1975 with production ending in 1982. The ABL coins remained legal tender until the early nineties as I remember spending these coins when I was a young boy at school. If I remember correctly, these were demonetized sometime in 1993.

The shape of the coins were drastically changed as compared to the previous Pilipino Series coins. This was done so that the visually impaired could easily distinguish the coins from each other. The 50 Sentimo denomination is not present in this series. However, a new denomination, 5 Piso, was added. The 5 Piso was unique in that it featured President Marcos himself. This was the first time a living person is ever featured on a coin meant for circulation. All other coins featuring a living person were commemorative issues and were not really meant to be circulated as regular currency though they are legal tender.

The era of ABL coins can be divided into two 4-year periods, 1975 to 1978, and 1979 to 1982. Coins from the two periods were essentially the same in shape, size and composition, but had some design changes. Another difference would be the place of minting. Coins from the first period, 1975 to 1978, would be minted abroad, while coin from the second period, 1979 to 1982, would be minted locally when the Philippines built its own minting plant in 1977. Though some sources say that coins from 1977 to 1978 were minted locally, I have not found evidence suggesting this since coins from those years do not bear the mint mark of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). It wasn’t until 1979 that the BSP mint mark was added, signifying that coins from then on were minted locally.

Click on the images below for more details on each coin.

1 SENTIMO	5 SENTIMOS
10 SENTIMOS	25 SENTIMOS
1 PISO	5 PISO

Enjoy!