Screw-ups at the BSP

The July 2 editorial, “BSP’s ‘mission creep,’” railed against the ineptitude of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, noting the “dysfunctional system of communicating its policy intentions,” utter failure to “mitigate inflation” due to the weakening of the peso, etc.

In a word, the BSP “dropped the ball” on its primary mandate and screwed up big-time.

And the most disgusting thing?

Despite bungling their job, Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. receives salaries, allowances and bonuses amounting to P14-million-plus, and Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo P13-million-plus a year! Other officials there receive P8-million-plus to P10-million-plus.

These are the monetary mavens who could not even figure out the confusion brought about by their manifestly ill-conceived decision to produce, at the cost of millions of pesos to taxpayers, new P5 coins that look (and feel in the dark) similar to the old P1 coins.

And let’s not forget the spark of genius that made them come up with the current P20 paper notes with almost the same hues as the P50 ones, thereby getting traders in dimly lit places of business easily hoodwinked by scammers who simply erase 2 and skillfully write 5 over it, as have been reported on radio and TV often enough.

STEPHEN L. MONSANTO, Loyola Heights, Quezon City