It’s a girl! Phl welcomes 100 millionth baby

MANILA, Philippines - A baby girl born early yesterday has officially pushed the Philippine population to 100 million, highlighting the challenge of providing for more people in a nation where an estimated 40 million live below the poverty line.

The child, named Chonalyn, was one of 100 babies born in state hospitals all over the archipelago who received the symbolic designation of “100,000,000th baby.”

“This is both an opportunity and a challenge... an opportunity we should take advantage of and a challenge we recognize,” said Juan Antonio Perez, executive director of the Commission on Population (PopCom).

While a growing population means a larger workforce, it also means more dependents in a country where about 25 percent of people are living in poverty, he explained.

Chonalyn’s mother, Dailin Cabigayan, 27, said she was not aware that the Department of Health (DOH) and PopCom were awaiting the coming of the 100,000,000th Filipino until she gave birth.

When she started experiencing labor pains, Cabigayan said she and her partner Clemente Sentino Jr., 45, immediately proceeded to the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital Saturday night.

Hours after her arrival at the hospital, Cabigayan finally gave birth at 12:35 a.m. to 2.8-kilo, 45-centimeter baby Chonalyn. She is the first baby for Cabigayan and second for Sentino.

“She is heaven’s gift to us,” Cabigayan said in Filipino.

Doctors of Fabella hospital said there were 10 other pregnant women scheduled to deliver their babies yesterday. In fact, there were two other mothers at the delivery room who were being closely monitored but Cabigayan took the spotlight and gave birth ahead of them.

Cabigayan, who worked as a domestic helper, expressed hope that she would no longer be going to her old job so she could focus on taking care of her child, while Sentino, a van driver, expressed confidence he could support his child and his partner.

Sentino and Cabigayan are not yet married. “She just happened to get pregnant. But we do have plans to get married,” he said.

“I make just enough to get by but at least my job pays regularly. We will find a way to make it fit,” he added.

Officials of the DOH and PopCom presented to Chonalyn and her parents infant clothes and other gifts that could help the family start a better life.

Chonalyn and the other 99 babies chosen to symbolize the country’s 100 million population will also receive starter kit worth P5,000, lifetime PhilHealth membership and free immunization, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said.

“She (Chonalyn) will now have the opportunity to have a good life and good health. Since she will be enjoying all the health services from the government, her life expectancy can reach as high as 80 years,” Ona added.

However, Perez said the Philippines had to find a way to bring services to the poorest families while also lowering the average number of children that fertile women will bear in their lifetimes.

“We’d like to push the fertility rate down to two children per (woman’s) lifetime,” from the current level of an average of three per woman, he said.

Efforts to control the Philippines’ population growth have long been hampered by the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which counts about 80 percent of Filipinos as followers and which disapproves of all forms of artificial birth control.