MANILA – Detained Sen. Leila de Lima is seeking a Senate investigation into the alleged rampant buying and selling of newborn babies in underground black markets in the country.
The opposition senator has filed Senate Resolution No. 224 urging the appropriate Senate committee to investigate the underground “babies-for-sale” trade as it endangers babies’ safety and makes them susceptible to exploitation and abuse.
“Despite the efforts of both the government and non-governmental organizations to address the illegal baby-for-sale trade, significant solutions remain to be elusive,” De Lima said.
“Poverty remains to be one of the main drivers in the prevalence of such atrocious illegal activity, and the continued proliferation of appalling activities relating to the exploitation, trafficking and abuse of babies,” she added.
Based on news reports, a considerable number of new-born babies are being sold both online and offline, for as little as P300 only across Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, in particular, where social media platforms are easily and widely accessed by ordinary citizens, reports revealed that babies are sold through online channels such as Instagram and Facebook.
Offline transactions reportedly occur outside public hospitals and in slum communities where, according to women in slum neighborhoods, six out of 10 women have either sold or know someone who has sold a baby.
“Assessments from experts point out that one of the problem areas that exacerbate the baby-for-sale trade is the adoption system in the Philippines. The current system is described to be tedious, multilayered, and highly bureaucratic, and even takes years to process,” De Lima said.
According to the senator, while the National Bureau of Investigation is aware of the problems on babies-for-sale trade, the agency admitted that it “is hardly making a dent” on the matter.
“The State must ensure that in mobilizing government agencies in the creation of a peaceful environment that is free from crime and drugs; equal effort is exerted in protecting children; and generations yet to come from predators that are operating in circumvention of and in violation of existing domestic and international laws,” she said./PN
