Online baby-selling cases in 2026 now at 9, surpassing 2025 record – PNP

MANILA, Philippines — Reported cases of persons selling babies online have now reached nine in 2026 so far, surpassing the eight cases recorded in the entirety of 2025, according to the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center (PNP WCPC) on Friday.

WCPC chief Brig. Gen. Maria Sheila Portento attributed the increase in reported cases to the unit’s intensified monitoring of online platforms.

“I want to look at it that way, that we’re rather aggressive with the number of our operations,” Portento told reporters in Camp Crame.

READ: PNP vows crackdown amid ‘alarming’ rise in online baby-selling cases

“But that’s still the challenge for us. These are only the ones we’ve discovered. And the number is going up. What about those we can’t cover? What about those who don’t pop up on our radar?” she added.

For comparison, the WCPC recorded only five cases of online baby-selling in 2024.

This came after operatives arrested a couple in San Pedro City, Laguna, last week for allegedly attempting to sell a five-day-old female infant — whom they had acquired from a mother whom the police did not name — for P35,000.

Babies could be sold for as high as P135,000 and as low as P10,000, according to Portento.

“As a parent, it breaks my heart to see a child have a price tag and be sold away. The question is where would that child have gone if we had not intervened?” the WCPC chief stressed.

Although some arrested baby-selling suspects cited financial troubles as the reason they resorted to trading an infant, Portento pointed to the creation of the National Authority for Child Care and its regional offices in streamlining adoption processes.

She further warned the public that engaging in the practice may face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and fines of up to P5 million under Republic Act No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act; or 40 years of imprisonment and fines of up to P1 million under RA No. 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. /mr