LONGEST LINE OF COINS
[PHOTO - March of quarters
College students try to break the Guinness World Records for the Longest Line of
Coins at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. EY
ACASIO]
MANILA,
DECEMBER 2, 2011 (STAR) (Xinhua) - The Philippines set a
new Guinness World Record today by laying out a line of 73.02 kilometers of
25-centavo coins in the open space of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
The feat, breaking the record of 64.8 kilometers set by the United States,
was validated by Eric Medrano, a geodetic engineer, at a ceremony held Thursday
evening at the site of long stretch of coins.
The 73-km-long coins were carefully laid over 6,000 square meters. One
kilometer needs a total of P12,500 ($287) worth of 25-centavo coins. This
translates to 3.65 million coin pieces with a total value of P912,750 ($20,934)
in all. It took thousands of volunteers more than a day to put the coins in
place.
The coins were collected from schools, companies, media, local government
units and non-government organizations (NGOs) in Metro Manila and Luzon region.
After the ceremony, the coins will be donated to build three classrooms for a
public school.
With the theme of "Power of Small Change", the activity aims to unleash the
power of small change by involving as many Filipinos as possible to contribute
to the nation, said the organizer, which involves the KaBayanihan Foundation,
the Philippine central bank Officers Club and Employees Association.
Coin recirculation is a problem in the Philippines as Filipinos are wont to
stock their coins in piggy banks. The coin recirculation problem was most acute
in the case of the 25-centavo coin.
The practice forces the central bank to mint still more coins which is an
expensive undertaking. The central bank said that among the coins, the 25
centavo-coin was suffering the most acute shortage.
Philippines gathers coins to set new
world record Agence France-Presse 3:50 pm |
Thursday, December 1st, 2011 PHILIPPNE DAILY INQUIRER
[PHOTO - Volunteers arrange coins during an attempt to break the world
record of the longest line of coins at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on
Thursday, as part of BAngko Sentral ng Pilipinas' project dubbed, the "power of
small change". NIÑO JESUS ORBETA/INQUIRER]
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine civic groups and charities lined up almost 73
kilometers (45 miles) of coins on Wednesday in a bid to set a new Guinness World
Record and build schools for the poor.
The project, which aimed to set a new record for the longest line of
single-denomination coins, received a better response than anticipated with
families thronging Manila's Quirino Grandstand to donate their coins.
While it will take time to get the official certification from Guinness World
Records, organizer Paul Chan said the Philippines had clearly toppled the old
record of 64.88 kilometers of pennies set in Fort Scott, Kansas in 2008.
"Unofficially, we have received nearly 73 kilometers of coins already but we
cannot state that officially unless a geodetic engineer and an architect
certifies it," as required by Guinness, said Chan.
Businesses, universities and private groups all contributed nearly 3.6
million 25-centavo denomination coins, amounting to about 912,000 pesos
($21,000), which will be used to build schools.
The project, supported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is also intended
to bring more coins into circulation to ease a shortage of loose change
affecting many businesses, organizers said.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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