Banknote Error - "Arrovo" on 100 Peso Banknote

The 100-Piso bill became subject of controversy after bills printed in France were printed with the President's name misspelled, the first in Philippine history. The bills, which are still legal tender, spelled the President's name as "Gloria Macapagal-Arrovo" instead of the correct "Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo".

The error was realized only when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) emloyees started withdrawing their salaries from the bank's ATMs. The Central Bank claims that less than 1,000 pieces of this banknote have been released into circulation. The defective banknotes that were still in the vault of Bangko Sentral were shredded.

Opposition Congressman Rolex Suplico of Iloilo commented:

“My Spanish teacher told me ‘rovo’ sounded like ‘robo,’ which means robbery in Spanish. This is from ‘robar,’ which means to rob someone.”

President Arroyo was accused by the opposition of corruption and cheating in the 2004 elections.

The French printer Francois Charles Oberthur Fiduciare, the third-largest private banknote printer in the world, shouldered the cost of 19.477 million or 25% of the total 77.9 million misspelled banknotes. In addition, 58.43 million or 75% of the total were replaced by the printer.

The last time the BSP commited a misspelling in the currency was in the early 1980's. The scientific name of the Philippine Eagle on the 50 centavo coin, Pithecopaga jefferyi" was misspelled as "Pithecobaga jefferyi".