Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

62 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

burden of taxation. He expressed his willingness to
an increased burden of taxation but warned that such
increase must not be confiscatory and should be within
the reach of all. He made strong appeal to prepare
the people for independence so that it would not be
a mere illusion, and reminded the members that our
sacrifices cannot be greater than those of our ancestors,
however great they may be.
To the query of Dr. Silvino G. Villanueva, a delegate
from Sorsogon province, the Secretary of Finance explained how the Philippines came to have her own
monetary system on a gold standard but without gold
circulation, known also as "gold exchange standard."
He also explained the mechanism of the system and
concluded as follows:
In our monetary system the government guarantees the
parity of the currency with the Filipino gold peso, equivalent
to one-half gold dollar of the United States, or in other words,
two Filipino pesos for each gold dollar of the United States.
To guarantee the monetary system of the Philippines the government has two funds, kept as trust funds which cannot be used
for purposes other than those specifically provided for by the
currency law. These funds are the "Treasury Certificates Reserved Fund" and the "Gold Standard Fund."
The first consists of a sum equal to 100 per cent of the value
of the treasury certificates or notes issued. These notes amount
now to P106,000,000 and the reserve is also exactly
P106,000,000. The reserve is made up of P18,000,000 in
silver held in Manila and P88,000,000 in gold, of which
P4,000,000 are kept in Manila and P84,000,000 are deposited
in various banks of the U. S. federal reserve.
The gold standard fund amounts to P31,000,000 and represents almost 25 per cent of the total sum of the coins and
government notes in circulation. It is for the purpose of
securing the parity of silver coins and notes backed up by silver