Yesterday, I read a news by Philstar.com about an attempt by Philippine civic groups and charities to break Guinness World Record Longest coin line. The event was called, “Barya ng mga Bayani [Coins of Heroes]: The Power of Small Change.” Today, they reportedly have break the record with 73.02 kilometers of 25-centavo coins, breaking the Guinness World Record on the longest line of coins. Thousands of students and members of civic groups converged yesterday at the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila to join the event.
Photo by Philstar.com: 25-centavo denomination
The old record hold by 64.88 kilometres of pennies set in Fort Scott, Kansas in 2008. The Americans used 3 million pennies or 1 pennies for that record. Its a new record for the longest line of single-denomination coins. The previous world record of 55.63 kilometers was set in Malaysia in 1995.
The Kabayanihan Foundation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the City of Manila organized the daylong activity that started at about 9 a.m. at the park’s parade grounds that could accommodate a 100-kilometer line of coins. Kabayanihan spokesman Gerry Gomez said the target is to complete a coin line ranging from 75 to 100 kilometers in the early evening and representatives of Guinness World Records would document the event. Businesses, universities and private groups all contributed nearly 3.6 million 25-centavo denomination coins, amounting to about 912,000 pesos.
Photo by AFP: Filipinos line up the coins
The organizer said the event had three objectives, the first of which was to promote awareness among Filipinos of the importance of coins. The second objective of the event was to start raising funds to help build classrooms for public elementary schools. All the coins gathered from the event served as donations for classroom building. The third objective was to unify Filipinos. Organizers said working to break a world record was a good means to promote cooperation and unity among Filipinos.
Source: Philstar, AFP, Inquirer.net
