On this day, July 13, in 1860, Filipino revolutionary and labor leader Jose Turiano Santiago was born in Trozo, Manila. He and his wife Marina Dizon were members of the Katipunan, where his father-in-law Jose Dizon was a founding member.
He was arrested following the outbreak of the 1896 Philippine Revolution but was released in 1897. He later joined Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary Government as Nueva Ecija’s representative in the Malolos Congress.
The Americans captured him in 1898, but he later fled to Hong Kong where he stayed until after the war. He was one of the founding members of the Congreso Obrero de Filipinas, which was established on May 1, 1913. He died in 1942.
1883
On this day, July 13, in 1883, Henry Otley Beyer, considered the “Father of Philippine Anthropology,” was born in Iowa, USA.
1945
On this day, July 13, in 1945, recognizing the destruction wrought by WWII on banks in the Philippines, the Philippine Congress passed Commonwealth Act 672 to rehabilitate the Philippine National Bank, then the issuer of currency notes, custodian of bank reserves, and sole depository of government funds.
The Japanese occupiers upon invading Southeast Asia in 1941, heavily relied on printing large quantities of money. Due to Japan’s monetary monopoly, and having been cut off from export markets, Southeast Asia suffered from hyperinflation (money devaluation).
Furthermore, Japan needed to finance their war machine, hence confiscation of private assets in their occupied countries. “Mickey Mouse money” became infamous in the Philippines, as people have had to pay a bayong of these devalued paper bills to buy common commodities such as rice, etc.
Banks in the Philippines suffered great losses. With the restoration of the Commonwealth gov in Manila in 1945, and to push for rehabilitation, banks needed to be reopened. PNB was a priority, given that in the absence of Bangko Sentral (yet to be established in 1949), it was the issuer of bank notes.
President Sergio Osmeña brought the concern to Congress on 13 June 1945, sounding the call for government intervention to rehabilitate banks, especially the Philippine National Bank. With Commonwealth Act 672 drafted on this day, it was signed by Osmeña on 19 July.
Congress would also pass into law the establishment of the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation in 1946, which would be transformed into the Development Bank of the Philippines. The predicament of small banks that couldn’t resume operations provided an impetus for the need for a Central Bank.
The Central Bank of the Philippines was established via RA 265, s. 1948, and finally inaugurated in 1949. The Marcos dictatorship however caused the Central Bank to go bankrupt. The bank granted foreign exchange hedges to Marcos crony companies from the late 1970s to 1980. Furthermore…
First Lady Imelda Marcos’ expensive shopping sprees were charged to the Central Bank, resulting in Php 26B in losses. A new central bank was established, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, by virtue of RA 7653, s. 1993 under Pres. Fidel V. Ramos.
2003
On this day, July 13, in 20013, Hashim Salamat (61), founder of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), died in the Philippines. In the 1960s he was sent to Egypt where he obtained an Islamic philosophy degree from Al Azhar college in 1967 and a master’s degree two years later. (www.timelines.ws)