Mickey Mouse Money

From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia

At the outbreak of World War II, the Philippines faced serious monetary problems, specifically, the devaluation of peso. During the Japanese occupation, the government issued fiat money known as the Japanese government-issued Philippine fiat peso or Japanese peso. The currencies were released in surplus. These were practically worthless that the people called these Mickey Mouse Money (similar to play money). Since the money were almost invaluable, the people can be seen carrying suitcases or bayong overflowing with the Japanese peso -it entailed one to pay bags of money for a piece of bread. ^[1]

1 Two Notes Released
2 Gallery of Japanese-Occupation Denominations
3 References
4 Citation

[edit] Two Notes Released

Two kinds of notes were issued in the country during the first period of Japanese occupation – first, the war notes released by the Japanese forces; and second, the guerilla notes or resistance currencies issued by different provinces and municipalities. Then President Jose P. Laurel outlawed the possession of guerilla notes, and those found having one were sanctioned by the Philippine government in-exile, and were later freed after WWII.