Northern Samar mom nabbed for selling 2 kids online

A 23-year-old mother was arrested in Northern Samar for allegedly attempting to sell her two children online.

In Chino Gaston’s 24 Oras report Thursday, the woman was accused of attempting to sell her two-month-old baby and two-year-old daughter for  P60,000.

The suspect is now under police custody.

“Problema talaga siya. It’s a form of illegal adoption at pwede siyang tumungo sa trafficking,” said National Authority on Child Care (NACC) Undersecretary Janelle Estrada.

“Huwag po nating tangkilikin ang illegal adoption at online baby selling dahil ito ay may karampatang parusa. Pwede kang parusahan ng trafficking, child abuse and exploitation and lifetime imprisonment po 'yan,” said Estrada.

(We should never patronize  illegal adoption and online baby selling because these have corresponding punishments. Violators may be charged with trafficking, child abuse and exploitation and lifetime imprisonment.)

A technical working group (TWG) composed of the NACC, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (DICT-CICC) was formed to curb the rising cases of illegal adoption and online baby selling.

“Out of the 23 Facebook sites, meron kaming 4 na nakita na merong transactions. Na-operate namin tatlo na yata. Dito sa tatlong ito, meron tayong arrest at rescue,” said PNP-WCPC Director Police Brigadier General Portia Manalo.

(Out of the 23 Facebook sites, we monitored transactions in four sites.  We conducted operations on three of them.)

“The first na na-operate namin P90,000- P50,000 sa nanay, P40,000 sa middleman,” Manalo added.

(The first operation was when a mother sold her child for P90,000. She received P50,000 while the middleman received P40,000.)

The CICC is continuously monitoring internet sites related to the illegal activity.

For its part, the NACC warned against illegal adoption.

“They can go to any DSWD residential care facilities. Na-streamline na, ginawa ng expeditious at inexpensive ang adoption process. Hindi na rin po kinakailangan kumuha ng abogado para tumulong sa kanilang adoption papers,” said Estrada.

(They can go to any DSWD residential care facilities. We have streamlined the process to make it expeditious and inexpensive.)

“Ngayon pong tumatayog lawyers ay mga social workers na natin,” she said.

(They don’t need a lawyer because the social workers will now act as their legal representative.)—Sundy Locus/RF, GMA Integrated News