The baby girl was given a cake, infant clothes and other gifts by health and population commission officers.

She is the daughter of Dailin Cabigayan, a resident of Sampaloc, Manila.

Baby Chonalyn is one of 100 babies born in state hospitals all over the Philippines who received the symbolic designation of "100,000,000th baby".

They all received similar gifts.

The Philippines government will monitor each of the designated 100 children as they grow up to see if they are receiving health services.

Chonalyn's father, 45-year-old van driver Clemente Sentino, said he was grateful for the government aid, but expressed confidence he could support his child and his partner.

He and the child's mother are not yet married.

"She just happened to get pregnant. But we do have plans to get married," he told Agence France-Presse.

Fr Melvin Castro, head of the commission on family and life of the country's Catholic bishops, was quoted by a church-run radio station as praising the growing population, as there would be more "young workers" to power the economy.

The United Nations Population Fund said the milestone offers both challenges and opportunities to the Philippines.

It is the world's 12th most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest-growing populations.

"It is important to emphasise that population is not merely a matter of numbers, but of human rights and opportunities," said Klaus Beck, the UNPF's Philippines representative.

With 54 per cent of its population under the age of 25, the Philippines needs to provide the young with education, job opportunities and skills, Beck said.

Unmet need for reproductive health care, especially voluntary family planning, remains great in the Philippines, Mr Beck added.

About a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

In April, after a Supreme Court ruling, a reproductive health law providing universal access to family planning services was able to be implemented.

The measure had been opposed by the Philippines' Catholic bishops because it gave access to contraception.

Sources

• The Guardian
• PhilStar
• The Rappler
• Image: The Guardian

The protesters, many dressed in red, gathered at a Catholic shrine to voice opposition to the bill, which would also encourage families to have only two children in an effort to reduce poverty.

In a statement read to the rally, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Pangasinan province said contraceptives corrupt moral values and promote the view that "babies are a nuisance".

President Benigno Aquino has strongly backed the birth control bill, saying that in a situation where couples "are in no position to make an informed judgement, the state has the responsibility to so provide".

The United Nations Population Fund has also weighed into the debate. It warned that failure to pass the legislation could reverse gains in development goals.

The law would use a government health insurance fund to provide free birth control pills, condoms and other contraceptives. Lessons on family planning and sex education would become compulsory in schools and for couples applying for a marriage licence.

Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila called for lawmakers to reject the birth control bill because it "is not the solution to our many problems as individuals and as a country as it will even give rise to many other problems more pernicious and pervasive than the ones we face in the present".

Catholics make up around 80 per cent of the population in the Philippines. The annual birth rate has been steadily declining, but the government points out that some of the poorest regions have the highest rates.

The UN has said a lack of education and access to condoms has led to an explosion of HIV infections in the Philippines, which it said is now one of seven countries in the world where cases have risen by 25 per cent or more since 2001.

Sources:

ChannelNewsAsia

Inquirer News

Image: ChannelNewsAsia