BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO and MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – Did a 22-year-old mother from Barangay Singcang here try to sell her two-month-old baby for P3,000 in San Dionisio, Iloilo?
The police of San Dionisio shipped the mother and her baby back to Bacolod City right after finding them in front of an elementary school in August 14.
The police of San Dionisio said its men acted on an information that the mother was trying to sell her baby.
The young woman and her baby are currently in Barangay Sum-ag with her husband. She denied allegations of baby trafficking.
The police of San Dionisio would not say for certain that this was a case of baby trafficking.
According to Inspector Nerio Alanan, San Dionisio police chief, the case needed further investigation.
“We have no first-hand information that she indeed intended to sell her child. What we heard was an allegation from a tricycle driver,” said Alanan.
Without convincing proof and with no complaint filed, the San Dionisio police did not detain the mother.
“We leave this matter to the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” Alanan said.
From what the San Dionisio police had gathered, the young other, her baby and a cousin left Bacolod City for Iloilo Friday last week.
The mother stayed at a relative’s house in Barangay Poblacion, San Dionisio.
“The mother denied she was peddling her baby. She, however, admitted she planned to leave her child to her relative because she was going to work in Manila,” Alanan said.
In Bacolod City, the mother told journalists a different story. She said she went to Iloilo with a cousin who was from Barangay Aspera, Sara, Iloilo.
Sara is near San Dionisio.
The mother said a friend of her cousin was willing to adopt her child but the friend later changed her mind.
The mother said she thus decided to better return to Bacolod City.
But before she could do so, she said her cousin had contacted another prospective adoptive parent for her baby – a teacher from San Dionisio who was willing to give her P3,000.
But before any formal talks could take place, the police of San Dionisio suddenly showed up in front of the school where the teacher worked, said the mother.
The unconvinced barangay captain of Singcang called for an investigation. Rossini Distrito believes there is more to what really happened.
A letter from the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) of San Dionisio to the Bacolod City’s Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) stated that the mother was “intercepted” for alleged child trafficking.
The letter was dated Aug. 18 and signed by Sharene Angelie Pudot, the San Dionisio MSWDO officer. It endorsed the mother and her child to DSSD.
The DSSD vowed to look into the case but left to the barangay council of Singcang the task of monitoring the mother and her baby.
The mother, however, decided not to return to Barangay Singcang and preferred to stay with her husband in Barangay Sum-ag./PN
