 The building housing the mint was destroyed during the retaking of the city in 1945.In the beginning, the Manila mint produced its coins without a mintmark, but in 1925 it began using the "M" mintmark on all of its coins until its closure at the end of 1941 with the Japanese invasion.In 1936, to commemorate the Philippines becoming a Commonwealth and no longer a mere territory, Ambrosia Morales was commissioned to generate new coin designs for the commemorative Fifty Centavos and One Peso.