Midwife Arrested for Attempting to Sell a Baby Online for P25,000
MUNTINLUPA – A midwife was apprehended by authorities for attempting to sell a baby online for P25,000.
Selling a baby online is illegal. This practice violates numerous laws and ethical standards, including human trafficking laws, child protection statutes, and criminal offenses related to fraud and forgery. Human trafficking involves the illegal trade of humans for various exploitative purposes, and selling a baby falls under this category. International treaties, such as the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, and national laws, like the Philippines’ Republic Act No. 9208 (the “Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003”), explicitly prohibit human trafficking.
Additionally, selling a baby violates the fundamental rights of a child as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This includes the right to protection from economic exploitation and the right to be raised by their parents, unless it is against the child’s best interests. Legal adoption processes are strictly regulated to ensure the child’s safety and well-being, and unauthorized sales bypass these legal procedures, putting the child at risk.
Selling a baby could also involve elements of kidnapping or illegal detention if the baby is taken without proper legal consent from the biological parents or guardians. In the case of the midwife from Muntinlupa, she offered to forge official documents, such as birth certificates, which constitutes fraud and forgery. This act not only commodifies human life, reducing children to mere objects of trade, but also bypasses safety checks and vetting processes that are part of legal adoption, potentially placing children in harmful environments.
Meanwhile, a midwife from Muntinlupa was apprehended by authorities for attempting to sell a baby online for P25,000. According to a report by 24 Oras and a video from the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division, the midwife was caught in the act, holding the six-day-old baby. The midwife claimed she was only trying to find an adoptive parent for the child. However, the NBI revealed that the suspect had negotiated with a potential buyer and even offered to handle the birth certificate, ensuring the buyer’s name would appear as the parent.