Couple nabbed for selling baby

MANILA, Philippines — Police have rescued a 12-day-old baby girl whom her parents allegedly tried to sell to fund their street food business in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Members of the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s Women and Children Protection Center arrested the baby’s parents in a sting at a mall on Monday.

The PNP said the suspects sold their baby to a police undercover agent for P27,500.

The transaction was reportedly made on social media.

The baby’s 22-year-old mother said she and her husband planned to use the money to open a street food business.

She said they could not afford to raise another baby as they have a three-year-old child.

The suspects face charges of qualified trafficking and child abuse.

The National Authority for Child Care (NACC) lamented the continued proliferation of child trafficking.

“No individual or parent has the right to exploit a child, much less for financial gain,” NACC Undersecretary Janelle Ejercito Estrada said.

“We will ensure that this infant receives the continued care and protection she deserves from the government,” Estrada added.

Since the NACC was established in 2022, the agency has uncovered over 40 Facebook pages offering children for sale.

“Some of these pages are difficult to detect because they use photos of dogs as a cover to hide their real intent, which is to sell children,” Estrada told journalists during the NACC’s 4th anniversary celebration last week.

In coordination with the PNP, the Cybercrime Investigation Coordinating Council and the National Bureau of Investigation, the NACC has reduced the number of illicit social media pages to eight.

Estrada said parents who can no longer care for their children could surrender them to the government, noting that the adoption process takes only nine months.