Emergency circulating notes were currency printed by the Philippine Commonwealth Government in exile during World War II.

These "guerrilla pesos" were printed by local government units and banks using crude inks and materials.

Using any materials available, resistance forces, provincial and municipal authorities all issued distinctive currencies, all denominated in centavos and pesos.

Although the notes carried the promise that they were payable in specie, it was impossible to redeem them for their full face value throughout the war.

Their value as both as a mechanism of exchange and as propaganda tools were significant enough for the Imperial Japanese to ban their use, responding violently to those possessing such notes.

After the end of World War II following the surrender of Imperial Japan, the Commonwealth government issued Republic Act No.

The former referred to the currency issued during the period commencing with the invasion of the Philippines and the occupation of any island or province by Imperial Japanese forces.

369 provided a set of redemption for this category: Counterfeit emergency circulating notes were excluded from being exchanged.

In the remote sub-province of Apayao, Deputy Governor Milton Ayochok assumed, the authority granted by President Manuel L. Quezon to print emergency currency.

On September 11, 1942, the Apayao Provincial Board authorized the printing of currency to provide for the budget for fiscal year 1942–1943.

[citation needed] On May 22, 1942, Japanese occupation forces established garrisons at Tagbilaran, the provincial capital, and Guindulman where they operated manganese mines.

On January 9, 1943, resistance officers and provincial officials who had not surrendered established a "free" government with Conrado D. Marapao as governor.

On January 1, 1942, in order to pay for the necessary expenditures, it issued a series of emergency circulating notes authorized by Provincial governor Marcelo Adduru after the evacuation of the entire municipal government to the municipality of Tuao, where it continued to function despite its isolation.

The portrait printed on the Negros Occidental bill is that of Quezon, who was the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under U.S. sovereignty.