At least 23 Facebook pages are currently being keenly monitored by the authorities for selling Filipino children online for P10,000 to P100,000 each.

This was announced by the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), which revealed that the selling of children online are being done in the guise of adoption.

NACC Executive Director, Undersecretary Janella Estrada, said that they have already reported the subject Facebook pages to the Philippine National Police (PNP) which is now ‘working on leads and follow-ups’ about the matter.

“We sent a letter to Facebook Meta Philippines but we haven’t received a reply… and Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian committed to help in writing a letter to FB Meta Philippines,” Estrada shared.

She noted that the suspect Facebook pages have thousands of followers. “Diyan sila sa FB pages nag-uusap ng mga nag-aalok ng baby, actually, kahit nasa tiyan pa lang po ng mga biological mothers, naghahanap na sila ng mga ahente at brokers para ampunin ang kanilang mga anak,” she lamented.

She highlighted that the PNP-Women and Children Protection Center earlier rescued an eight-day-old child from being sold. She discussed that the child’s 29-year-old mother, identified as Ma. Chariza Rivera Dizon, was arrested by the police for trying to sell the baby. A certain Arjay Malabanan, 37, was also arrested by the police for serving as an agent.

According to the police, Dizon wanted to sell the child for P50,000 while Malabanan added P40,000 as fee for his help in selling the child.

Estrada said that apart from coordinating with the PNP, the NACC is partnering with different local government units to strengthen the Philippine Foster Care Program.

Republic Act (R.A.) 11642 established the NACC as a quasi-judicial agency attached to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and which has the exclusive and original jurisdiction on all matters pertaining to domestic administrative adoption, inter-country adoption, foster care, and other forms of alternative child care.

Estrada underscored that under RA 11642, adoptions conducted outside the national care guidelines are considered a form of human trafficking and a crime.

Those who will be found buying and/or selling children may be slapped with trafficking and child abuse charges, she warned.

She emphasized that the penalty for violation of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act is 20 years to life imprisonment and a fine of P1 million to P5 million, while the penalty for qualified trafficking is life imprisonment and a fine of P2 million to P5 million.

Also, Article IV, Section 7 of RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, states that child trafficking carries a penalty of reclusion temporal (12 years imprisonment) to reclusion perpetua (up to 40 years imprisonment), the NACC official added.

Usec. Estrada declared, “We shall intensify our information campaign para ipaalam sa ating mga kababayan na mayroon pong NACC na puwedeng tumulong sa kanila tungkol sa adoption and child care cases.”

📷 NACC FB