A man who could not walk became the «brains of the revolution»: Apolinario Mabini, paralysed by polio in 1896, drafted the programmes and decrees of the young Philippine republic from his chair. That is exactly how the reverse of this 10 piso, issued for his 150th anniversary, shows him — seated, with a book.

Mabini was born on 23 July 1864 in Talaga, Batangas province, into a poor peasant family, and qualified as a lawyer in 1894. From 1898 he was Emilio Aguinaldo’s chief adviser, his constitutional programme shaped the republic’s framework, and from January to May 1899 he led the government as prime minister and foreign secretary. In December 1899 he was captured by American troops; refusing to swear allegiance to the United States, he was exiled to Guam and died in 1903, shortly after his return. In exile he wrote his memoir «La Revolución Filipina», one of the key accounts of those years.

The obverse bears Mabini’s portrait with a quill pen; the reverse shows the hero writing in a book, the central bank emblem, the words «150 taon», the dates 1864–2014 and the motto TALINO AT PANININDIGAN — «Intellect and conviction». The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas released the coin into circulation on 22 December 2014.

The coin continues the series of bimetallic 10 piso for the 150th birthdays of revolutionary heroes, opened by Andrés Bonifacio in 2013; in subject it is the most «intellectual» issue of the set — a pen and a book instead of a sword. Mabini already shared the circulating 10 piso with Bonifacio, and this anniversary issue gave him a coin of his own.

Grade UNC: the coin has never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre, with at most minor storage marks. For a mass-mintage commemorative, it is precisely this state that earns a place in the series album.

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