DAVAO CITY – Philippine Eagle Viggo featured on the polymer P1,000 bill turned 15-years-old on March 7.
VIGGO (PH Eagle)
Hatched in 2010, Viggo was the 23rd Philippine Eagle born in captivity at the Philippine Eagle Center in Barangay Malagos here.
“He stands as the proud face of the country's ₱1,000 polymer banknote, reminding everyone of the Philippine Eagle as an endemic species,” the Philippine Eagle Foundation said.
Viggo is currently housed in a duplex enclosure and is one of the permanent residents at the PEC.
As a permanent resident at the center, the 15-year-old eagle is part of the foundation’s breeding program. “We acknowledge the Eagle Cement Corp.'s generosity for their continued support as Viggo’s adopter.”
Viggo was the first captive-bred Philippine Eagle trained to perch on a gloved fist and a semen donor for the Cooperative Artificial Insemination Program.
In 2017, wildlife photographer Floyd Pison Bermejo took photos of Viggo during his visit at the PEC.
After posting the photo of the eagle on his social media account, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) requested Bermejo to use his shot for a commemorative bill.
The P1,000 polymer banknote was officially circulated in April 2022 bearing the photo of Viggo along with the other country’s most important national symbols and the Sampaguita (Jasminum sambac) flower.
The Philippine Eagle is listed as critically endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with an estimated number of only 400 pairs left in the wild.