The mother whose infant son was sold for P500 to a couple in Compostela town, Cebu, will likely end up losing permanent custody of the child for being an unfit parent.
“She doesn’t have a permanent home and a stable job,” said Nads Noel of the Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in explaining why the child remains in their care.
The mother may also face criminal liability for her action.
A man transacted the sale of the one-year-old boy to a couple. The mother’s role in the transfer has yet to be established but social workers said her lack of a residence and job, and frame of mind were factors against her.
The mother is asking the DSWD in Central Visayas turn over her two-year-old son to her relatives in Argao town. The mother’s uncle called the DSWD-7 last Sunday expressing interest to take care of the child. The Argao social welfare office is verifying his parenting capability, Noel said.
Noel said she visited barangay Suwa, a mountain barangay in Argao town, where the mother’s relatives live.
“I verified the information (given by the mother). She is really from Argao and I met some of her relatives,” Noel said.
She said the mother is the only girl in a brood of five who got married and left home at an early age.
“At 32, her eldest offspring is already a teenager who is with his father in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. She left her husband because she was a battered wife,” Noel said.
Noel will also visit the mother’s parents in Cebu City.
She said the mother’s current partner doesn’t have a stable job.
“He only visited the center once or twice and did not show strong interest in having the boy,” Noel said.
The DSWD is working to register the boy who was baptized.
The child turned two years old last May 14 in the government center.
Social workers pitched in to buy a cake and food for a simple celebration.
The boy was one-year-old when he was turned over to the DSWD last April after being sold for P500 to a couple in Compostela town in March.
Noel said the agency’s priority is securing permanent custody of the child since both parents are disqualified.
She said they have yet to confirm if the parents are criminally liable for allowing the sale of their child.
Section 3 of Republic Act 7610 or An Act Providing for Stronger Deterrence and special protection against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination defines child abuse as “maltreatment, either habitual or not, of the child.”
The penalty for violators is imprisonment of prison mayor.