For "selling" a six-day-old baby girl for P25,000, a midwife was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) during an entrapment operation conducted last July 16 in Muntinlupa City.
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago presented to the media on Thursday, July 18, the arrested widwife who was identified as Maria Christina A. Paule.
After her arrest, Paule was charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila with violations of Republic Act (RA) 7610, the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, in relation to RA 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; and RA 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 1998.
During a press conference, Santiago said "siya ay nag-alok sa Facebook to sell a baby (The midwife offered to sell a baby through Facebook)."
“‘Yung baby ay six days old and is offering to sell the baby for P25,000 (The baby was just six days old then and was being offered to be sold for P25,000),” he added.
NBI's Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) Chief Olga Angustia-Gonzales said the case stemmed from information her office received from the DOJ’s Cyber-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Monitoring Center.
Gonzales said an undecover agent of NBI managed to message the suspect via Facebook Messenger.
“Napag-alaman namin na ang bata ay bagong silang at ang nanay ay dati n’yang pasyente (We learned that the infant was a newborn baby and that it was the child of her former patient),” she said
Gonzales noted that the baby girl is already the second child of the mother.
“Ayon na din dun sa nasabing kumadrona ay hindi pa rehistrado ang bata o wala pang birth certificate at s’ya na ang mag-aayos nito kapag natapos na ang nasabing transaksyon (According to the midwife, the baby is not yet registered and does not have a birth certificate but will process it herself once the transaction has been completed),” Gonzales said.
She also said the arrested midwife claimed that this was the first time she did such transaction to recover the money spent in helping the mother give birth.
“Hinahanap po namin ‘yung nanay. Kung mapapatunayan na inabandona n’ya ‘yung bata ay maaari po namin kasuhan ‘yung nanay ng child abuse or abandonment and neglect doon sa sarili nyang anak (We are looking for the mother. If she is found to have abandoned the child she will be charged with child abuse or abandonment and neglect of her own child),” Gonzales warned.