A baby holds a woman’s hand in this stock photo. INQUIRER.net stock
A mother from Quezon City sold her own baby for P45,000 to pay off her e-sabong debts soon regretted her decision but ended up having to pay with her freedom for the rest of her life for child trafficking and child abuse.
In a ruling, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 86 meted the penalty of life imprisonment on the mother — unidentified for the sake of her baby — and three others who were involved in the sale of the baby, including a Nigerian national.
After a two-year trial, the court found the mother, along with three others, “guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Qualified Trafficking in Persons under Section 4 (k) in relation to Section 6 (a) of RA 9208 as amended by RA 10364.”
Each of the four accused — the mother, the middle man, a Filipina and a Nigerian national — were ordered by the court to pay a P2-million fine, on top of their jail terms.
Based on the records of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the mother sold her baby to a person she met online for a measly P45,000 to pay for her e-sabong debtors. That person turned out to be a middleman for a Facebook group called “Bahay Ampunar”.
The two later met in person at a fast food chain in Quezon City on March 3, 2022, in order to facilitate the sale of the baby.
However, after turning over her baby, the mother regretted her action and pleaded online for the return of her baby. It was at this point that she sought the help of the NBI Human Trafficking Division in order to recover her child.
Agents of the bureau managed to rescue the baby after conducting an entrapment operation in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, resulting in the arrest of a Filipina and a Nigerian national.
Authorities later on effected the arrest of the mother and the middleman in May 2022.
The four suspects then faced charges of kidnapping under the Revised Penal Code, violation of Republic Act No. 7610 or the Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination, and RA 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
Life imprisonment carries the maximum penalty of 30 years and a day, to 40 years’ imprisonment.