A mythical bird drawn from Mindanao folklore now anchors the design of a new collector coin that the Royal Canadian Mint has issued in honour of Filipinos who have made Canada home.
The release marks the latest entry in the Mint’s “Celebrating Canada’s Diversity” series, an initiative the Philippine Embassy in Canada says recognises the cultural footprint and rising numbers of Filipino-Canadians, now counted among the country’s fastest-expanding communities.
Vancouver-based artist Bert Monterona, himself Filipino-Canadian, built the design around a sequence of concentric rings, each carrying a distinct cultural reference. A rope border on the outermost edge stands for strength and diversity, giving way to a band of banderitas — the small festival buntings strung up during Filipino fiestas. Further in, the artwork depicts mountain ranges alongside the swimming Sarimanok, a legendary bird associated with migration, resilience and the will to endure.
Heart motifs ring the inner portion of the coin, representing the communal bonds central to Filipino life. Nearer the centre, Monterona merges Canadian sugar maple leaves with okir, a flowing plant-based ornamentation rooted in Filipino tradition. The focal point is an engraved sun modelled on the emblem of the Philippine flag, set with an inlay of mother-of-pearl — a material long valued in Filipino craftsmanship for its shifting iridescence.
“I’ve been weaving okir and Sarimanok motifs into my work since 1984, and they appear here,” Monterona said. “But the heart, alternating upright and inverted, is something special: it is the universal symbol of love and humanity — you can’t build a nation or community without heart.”
The flagship piece is struck in one ounce of 99.99 per cent pure gold and carries a face value of $200, though its collector price is set at $8,849.95. Production is capped at 275 examples for the entire global market. A more accessible silver edition, with a $20 face value, sells for $269.95 and substitutes a simulated mother-of-pearl element at its core.
Both versions can be ordered through the Mint’s online store, with deliveries scheduled to begin on July 6. The Mint frames the broader series as a way to spotlight communities whose contributions reach across Canadian fields including healthcare, education and the arts — a thread the Filipino-Canadian community has woven through what it describes as a spirit of bayanihan.
