Is it time to rejoice or be very, very scared?
“The Commission on Population (PopCom) revealed that country’s population will hit 100 million shortly after midnight of Sunday, July 27,” reports Sheila Crisostomo in The Philippine Star.
PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III was quoted as saying, “At exactly 12:05:54am on Sunday, the 100th million baby will be born. We rounded it off to 12:06 a.m. This is based on our linear analysis of the midyear population estimates of the PSA Philippine Statistics Authority.”
The report noted: “Based on PSA estimates, the country’s population on July 1 was 99.7 million, with 4,609 Filipino babies being born everyday.”
To mark the milestone, Perez said 100 symbolic babies would be chosen from participating hospitals in 80 provinces and cities across the country. These hospitals must go on Philippine Standard Time.
Pere explained, “One hundred local government units will be determining who was born closest to 12:06 a.m. They will provide some support while we, at PopCom will provide some starter kits. We hope that PhilHealth will be able to give the babies personal identification numbers.”
As it turns out, Popcom is working with PhilHealth for the babies to be given lifetime health insurance coverage.
Photo from MorgueFile
