A purple-hued P3,000 banknote and a matching P125 coin are now part of how the Supreme Court is marking its 125th year, with the tribunal presenting the commemorative pieces as collectible items that double as recognized currency.
Both carry the likeness of Cayetano L. Arellano, who took office as the country’s first chief justice when the high court was formed on June 11, 1901, under Act No. 136 of the Philippine Commission. The note’s face pairs his portrait with the court’s En Banc oral arguments hall in Manila and the institution’s 125th anniversary emblem.
Turn the bill over and the layout shifts to a vertical orientation, carrying the names of the chief justices who have led the judiciary across more than a century. Incumbent Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, the 27th to hold the post, appears among them.
The pieces will be sold at the court’s own gift shop, the first of its kind, which opened at the SC Main Building in Manila earlier this month. The court has said both the note and the coin qualify as legal tender, placing them in the same category as the colored, non-circulating commemorative currency the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has issued for collectors in recent years — items that hold a stated face value but are produced chiefly as keepsakes rather than for everyday spending.
The currency rollout is one strand of a wider anniversary program the court has built under the banner “SC: 125 Years of Tradition and Innovation,” an observance formalized through Presidential Proclamation No. 1265, series of 2026, which designates June as Judiciary Month and invites government bodies, local units, and the private sector to take part.
