Errata on the 2007 Census of Population

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has submitted to the Office of the President last December, 2008, the corrected 2007 Population count. If approved by the President, the revised population count of the Philippines will be brought to 88,572,996 from the originally proclaimed figure of 88,574,614 - or a reduction of 1,618.

The correction was due to the errata in the population count of the province of Pampanga; two (2) municipalities in Maguindanao; one (1) barangay in Kalookan City; and nine (9) barangays in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Albay, Cebu, Leyte, Davao del sur, Sultan Kudarat and Compostela Valley.

Since the corrected population figure involves only an adjustment of 1,618, this will minimally affect the computation of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of LGUs across the country.

LGUs' IRA for April and onwards at the same level as in the 1st quarter.

The DBM has issued Local Budget Memorandum No. 56 informing LGUs that pending presidential proclamation of the 2007 population census, and the submission by the DENR of the updated consolidated master list of land area, the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of LGUs will be computed based on the existing official data namely, the 2000 population census and the 2001 land area.

Thus, LGUs will expect no adjustment in the IRA shares to be released for the month of April and thereafter.

As of this writing however, the President has issued Proclamation No. 1489, proclaiming as official the results of the 2007 Census of Population which placed the total population of the Philippines as of August 1, 2007 at 88,574,614.

With this development, the DBM may have to recompute the IRA figure based on the latest official population count of each and every province, city, municipality and barangay.