MANILA, Philippines - The government has warned Filipino
women against selling their babies for profit as reports said there had
been several incidents when infants are being offered to childless
couples without undergoing legal adoption procedures.
Social Welfare and
Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said women, no matter how
poor, should not resort to selling their babies as they risk being
charged with violations of the law on Domestic Adoption, Republic Act
8552.
- “We should be alarmed by reports of babies being sold. This is also a form of birth simulation which evades the legal adoption process thereby violating RA 8552, an Act establishing the rules and policies on the domestic adoption of Filipino children,” Soliman said.
- Earlier, local television aired reports that some poor women are selling their babies for profit.
- A report by the GMA Television Network said that the sale of infants are so prevalent, especially in poor communities, that it had already brought about an underground trade.
Some infants are even being
kidnapped in the hospitals and sold to baby traffickers who make a
profit from the sale. There had been cases of infants being sold to
foreigners.
According to
Soliman, there are existing cases of poor pregnant women who are unable
to raise their babies and would offer them to childless couples to
illegally adopt in exchange for a certain amount.
She said that any person who tampers the birth registration of a child or any physician, nurse, or health personnel who will collaborate in such an illegal act shall be guilty of “birth simulation”.
Source: Agency
She said that any person who tampers the birth registration of a child or any physician, nurse, or health personnel who will collaborate in such an illegal act shall be guilty of “birth simulation”.
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