Adoption is being eyed for the babies of 13 surrogate mothers who recently returned to the Philippines after being pardoned in Cambodia if they have no capability to rear them, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Monday, Dec. 30.
Three of the Filipinas who were repatrated have with them their babies, while the rest are pregnant.
“Sa ngayon titingnan ng ating mga kaibigan sa DSWD at sa NACC kung may kakayanan ang mga nanay upang gampanan ang kanilang tungkulin bilang nanay (The Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Authority for Child Care are looking if these Filipinas can fulfill their duties as mothers),” said DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty during an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
“Kung makita natin hindi kakayanin ‘yun ay maaaring sa estado na muna ang mga sanggol at i-consider ang posibilidad katulad ng adoption (If these mothers can’t do it then the state would take the babies in and consider getting them adopted),” Ty said.
This was disclosed by Ty following the arrival last Sunday, Dec. 29, of the 13 Filipinas after being pardoned in Cambodia for violating the country’s human trafficking law.
The 13 Filipinas are among 20 Filipinas rounded up last October by Cambodian authorities against an illegal operation that traffics foreign women into the Southeast Asian nation to become surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is outlawed in Cambodia.
Seven other Filipinas who did not get pregnant were never charged in Cambodia and returned to the Philippines last October.
In the meantime, Ty said the 13 mothers are under the custody of the DSWD until they are ready to reintegrate to society.
In behalf of the DOJ, Ty said: "Tutulungan talaga namin sila kung talagang maglakas loob sila at kasuhan ‘yung mga recruiter nila (we will help them if they get enough courage to file charges against their recruiters).”
“Talagang matitiyak namin na bibigyan sila ng proteksyon ng pamahalaan (We assure that the government will provide them protection),” he added.
At the same time, Ty said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has been keeping a close watch of the country’s international ports for Filipinas being trafficked to become surrogate mothers.
“May mga ilan na tayong mga nasalba sa airport nung nabisto na lalabas upang maging surrogate mothers (We have already rescued some at the airport after being discovered they were being trafficked to become surrogate mothers),” he cited.
He assured that the recruiters of those intercepted are already facing criminal charges.