Fetus found inside church

It was an quiet Monday morning at the parish of running priest Fr. Robert Reyes in Cubao, Quezon City until some 20 parishioners started gathering around a paper bag abandoned near the altar.

Inside was a six-month-old male fetus, apparenlty left behind just a few minutes before the start of the Mass at the Lady of Miraculous Medal Parish.

The fetus was left by a woman, who even stayed a while to pray before leaving the bag, according to Linda Senar, the church cook.

Senar said that at around 6:45 a.m., she saw a woman in her early twenties, wearing a white T-shirt and walking shorts, enter the church, carrying the blue paper bag that contained the fetus.

The cook said that before leaving the church to buy something for the kitchen, she saw the young woman with the bag kneeling at one of the pews near the altar.

Returning 30 minutes later, Senar was welcomed by a commotion as parishioners gathered around the paper bag.

Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Unit (CPD-CIU) officers who responded to the scene said the fetus was still warm and must have been born only hours before.

PO3 Jun Mortel, officer-on-case, said the mother of the boy could have taken an abortifacient that induced the premature birth of the child. The baby could have been born alive.

"Parang kakalabas lang nung bata kasi may mga dugo pa siya," said one of the witnesses who refused to be named.

The young woman who brought the fetus to the church was not likely the mother of the child, investigators said. The mother could still be at a nearby clinic or hospital for a dilation and curettage.

"The mother is probably now going through the pangs of guilt," said Fr. Reyes.

"Life is sacred. Nothing justifies the taking or ending of life in whatever form or circumstance. Life cannot be trivialized nor dismissed by a rational argument for something supposedly higher or more important."

He added: "Today we debate the two-child policy. Could this be the message and challenge of this abandoned, aborted baby? Let us be careful in the debate and discussion on population, not to subordinate or subsume life under lesser values."