Man claiming to be father tries to sell boy to Compostela couple

With no identified mother, a two-year-old child’s immediate future is left to the hands of social workers.

The boy’s situation came about after a man who claimed to be his father tried to sell him to a couple in barangay Poblacion, Compostela town for P500.

The suspect’s identify is withheld to protect the child.

The 38-year-old suspect was supposedly drunk when he brought the child to the home of Fernando and Adelinna Salundaga.

The man offered the child to the Salundaga couple for P500 so he can buy liquor.

The couple called up the Compostela police who arrested him at their home minutes later.

Charges of violating Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act were filed against the man before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.

No proof

Asst. Provincial Prosecutor Jerome Abarca decided to elevate the charges against Dela Peña to the Regional Trial Court in Mandaue City which has jurisdiction over cases in Compostela town. No bail was recommended.

Under the law “any person trading and dealing with children including buying and selling of a child for money, or for any other consideration, or barter” shall be meted 12 to 20 years to 20 to 40 years in prison.

The penalty shall be imposed in its maximum when the victim is under 12 years of age, the law states.

The man declined to undergo a preliminary investigation which would have allowed him to submit a counter-affidavit on the case.

PO2 Arni Goc-ong, an investigator of the Compostela Police, said the man failed to show proof that he is the father of the boy who is about two to three years old.

But he said no one seemed to claim the child who was turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Compostela town.

Since no one is looking for the child, Goc-ong said there is a possibility that the man is indeed the father.

“Bisan iya pa nang anak, naa gihapon mi right sa pagdakop niya kay iya man kining gibaligya. (Even if he is the father of the boy, we have the right to arrest him because he sold the child),” Goc-ong told Cebu Daily News.

Not commodities

The man was supposed to be committed to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) since the charges filed against him were filed in court.

But Goc-ong said the suspect has to stay at the Compostela police precinct until July since the provincial jail is presently “overcrowded.”

Thus far, Goc-ong said no one ever visited the suspect, a resident of Bogo City.

Lawyer Noemi Truya-Abarientos of the Children’s Legal Bureau condemned Dela Peña’s act of selling a child.

“We are human beings. Human beings are not commodities (which can be sold). It (the suspect’s act) is condemnable. Even if he turns out not to be the parent…,” Abarientos told Cebu Daily News.

If no family member or relative will claim the child at the DSWD, Abarientos said the boy will be considered “abandoned” and may be adopted by other persons.

“The boy won’t know he was sold. He will always be looking for identity; where he came from,” she said.

Maximum security

The man was arrested by the Compostela police after he reportedly sold the boy to the wife of a barangay tanod last April 15.

In his affidavit, Adelinna Salundaga said the suspect came to barangay Poblacion, Compostela sometime last March, looking for someone to buy the child.

Last April 15, Salundaga said the suspect was drunk when he went to her house and brought along the two-year-old boy.

“(The suspect) reiterated that he will sell the child. (He told me that) I should trust him since the child he was bringing was his son. He told me that he won’t report it to the police,” Salundaga said in her affidavit.

Fernando Salundaga, also a barangay tanod, went to the Compostela police to report the incident. Police later came to their residence and arrested the man.

Compostela Police refused to allow interviews to the suspects, saying they are on maximum security following the shooting spree that killed three people and injured several others in barangay Tamiao, Compostela town.

Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said she will wait for the case report from the municipal social welfare office of Compostela before they can address the boy’s plight.

Processing

In a text message to Cebu Daily News, Magpale said she hasn’t received the case report from the Compostela social welfare office.

Magpale said there’s no need to convene the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children (PCWC).

“We will wait for the report for case report. If there are relatives to whom we can entrust if there’s no accredited facility. But we really need the case report,” she said.

Edna Regudo of the DSWD’s Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) said the boy was placed under temporary custody of their Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC).

Regudo said Compostela social welfare officers turned over the child to them since the town doesn’t have the facility to take care of the boy.

If no one claims the child, he will be processed for abandonment and offered for adoption. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter with Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Jessa Chrisna Marie J. Agua