Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – In America, corporations are people. In the Philippines, people are money. That is, according to a ranking member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Reacting to a new report that the population of the Philippines is about to officially reach 100 Million, Father Melvin Castro,  executive secretary of the CBCP, said that this is good news.  “It is a blessing and a demographic dividend,” he added.

It is estimated that 75 percent of the Philippines’ total population are Catholic.

In an interview on the Catholic Radio Station, Radio Veritas, Castro explained what he meant by  “dividend” and discussed the great impact of the population explosion, especially on the country’s Roman Catholic Church.

“Just imagine, even if only 50 Million Catholics will put one peso into the Sunday collection basket, that’s 50 Million pesos a week that will go to the coffers of the Catholic Church.  Multiply that by 52 weeks, that’s 2.6 Billion pesos a year.  Think of what all that money, plus the interest it will earn from the church’s stock investments, can do,” Castro argued.

It is precisely the church’s wealth and influence that President NoyNoy Aquino had proposed a constitutional amendment to create  four branches of government: executive, legislative, judicial and the Catholic Church.