Woman charged with kidnapping for snatching baby from Bacolod hospital

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines -– A woman who took a four-day-old boy from a hospital here last week has been charged with kidnapping before the city prosecutor’s office.

Kidnapping charges were filed against Lilet Letija, 22, of Purok Riverbank, Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City, on Tuesday, for allegedly taking a baby from the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, said Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, the city’s police chief.

The police apprehended Letija at her residence on Saturday and recovered the baby from her custody.

Napoleon Silva, the father of the child, described Letija as a family acquaintance whom he met at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corporation port in 2005.  Silva told the police earlier that Letija took his baby while his wife was asleep at the hospital at about 2 a.m. Friday last week.

De la Paz said Letija appeared to have planned the kidnapping because she bought infant ware, clothes and toys days before she took the baby, whom she later presented as her own son to the relatives of her husband.

Inspector Jovy Cabcaban, Women and Children Complaints Desk chief, said that there was no need for a psychological examination of Letija as she appeared to be mentally stable.

Being charged with the non-bailable case of kidnapping, Letija would be brought to the Bacolod City women’s correctional, De la Paz said.

The police chief urged government and public hospitals, not only in the city but also in other areas of Negros Occidental, to beef up their security measures following the kidnapping.