Non-bailable qualified human trafficking charge and child exploitation case have been filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) before the Manila regional trial court (RTC) against two persons who were arrested for selling a newborn baby for P90,000 through social media.
Named in the criminal case were Arjay E. Malabanan and Ma. Chariza R. Dizon. They were charged with violations of Sections 4(g), 6(a), and 6(o) of Republic Act (RA) 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended, and Section 10(a) of RA 7610, the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
Malabanan and Dizon were charged before the prosecutor's office after their arrest last May 15 in an entrapment operation conducted by operatives of the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) at a church in Dasmarinas City in Cavite.
They were arrested after receiving marked money from police officers who posed as a couple seeking to get the infant.
In a resolution, Assistant State Prosecutor Claire Eufracia P. Pagayanan ruled “there is sufficient probable cause to indict respondents Malabanan and Dizon for qualified trafficking….”
Pagayanan also said "the act of respondents Malabanan and Dizon in selling the latter’s newborn child is an act of exploitation.”
The resolution that ordered the filing of the charges in court was issued last May 17 by the DOJ's Task Force on Women and Children and Against Trafficking in Persons (TFWCATIP) headed by Deputy State Prosecutor Olivia I. Laroza-Torevillas.
It noted that the PNP-WCPC operation was conducted based on the Feb. 12 request of the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) which sought “to investigate the proliferation of illegal adoption and child trafficking on Facebook.”
The PNP-WCPC investigated the different Facebook groups and accounts provided by the NACC.
After an undercover agent posted on Facebook of her intent to adopt a baby, she received a Feb. 29 message from an account called "Kuy’s Jay" that offered a baby for P90,000.
"Kuy’s Jay," who was found to be Malabanan who claimed the money will be given to the mother of the infant.
Malabanan exhibited an identification card which showed that he is a computer operator working for the local government of Dasmarinas City.
After asking and receiving P5,000 through GCash as downpayment, Malabanan agreed to meet with undercover police officers at a church in Damarinas City to turn over the baby and to get the full payment.
“Children are the most precious treasures of society meant to be fully protected by law and they are the best investments of today for a better tomorrow. We will never allow anyone to exploit them in any way,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said.
“Let us be the defenders of these vulnerable sector and innocents who desperately need us,” he urged the public.