DOJ: Baby sale on FB ‘prevalent’; 500 accounts so far taken down

Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano, DOJ Spokesperson–Photo by Tetch Torres-Tupas

Social media giant Meta, the company behind Facebook, has taken down at least 500 accounts linked to the black market sale of babies online, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“But we think those are not enough. It is still prevalent. There are still many accounts that have to be closed down,” Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said on Thursday’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon press briefing.

He said the DOJ, particularly its cybercrime division, was coordinating with Malacañang, since President Marcos himself had expressed concern over the matter.

Appeal to public

“The President believes the Philippines will not progress if it has such a problem,” Clavano said, adding that the National Bureau of Investigation is also coordinating with Meta and with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.

Clavano said Meta had been helpful in taking down the accounts. But he said the DOJ wanted the company to have more “initiatives, programs and mechanisms to ensure the widespread protection of children online.”

Reporting mechanisms in the government are in place, Clavano said. But he noted that the government could not immediately spot “the illegal actors.”

Qualified trafficking

“We are also calling our citizens on Facebook, if they see any anomalies or irregularities [related to] this adoption of babies,” appealed the DOJ official. “Please report to the authorities.”

Earlier on Monday, the DOJ said it filed qualified trafficking and child exploitation charges against Ma. Chariza Dizon, a 29-year-old woman who sold her 8-day-old baby boy, and Arjay Malabanan, a government employee who acted as her intermediary, before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

State prosecutors recommended no bail for the qualified trafficking charges and bail of P80,000 for child exploitation.

If found guilty of qualified trafficking, Dizon and Malabanan may face a life sentence.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed before the DOJ by the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC).

Acting on the information from the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), regarding a black market on Facebook trafficking infants, the PNP-WCPC instructed a police operative to contact that syndicate and pretend to be a buyer.

On Feb. 29, the officer received a message from the account of a certain “Kuy’s Jay,” who later turned out to be Malabanan, offering to sell Dizon’s newborn for P90,000.

Malabanan reportedly made several follow-up calls to the operative on May 13, as well as a video call where he even showed his identification card as a computer operator for the city government of Dasmariñas City in Cavite province.

Two days later, Malabanan and Dizon were arrested in an entrapment operation at a church in Dasmariñas. The baby boy was then turned over to the DSWD’s custody.

NACC executive director Janella Ejercito Estrada had earlier appealed to the public, particularly those wishing to adopt children, to avail themselves of the proper government assistance, which she said does not require adoption fees.