VARIOUS products offered by companies and individuals online are a big help.
Shoppers are provided with wide and easy access to products they want to buy.
Almost everything you can think of buying is available online.
And there’s no more hassle because with just a click, you can have what you want to buy.
Yes – things. Various things can be found online.
But as time passes and with the advent of modern technology, malicious individuals have also taken advantage of this.
There is what we call the ‘black market’ where the sale of contraband is rampant.
But what’s even more heartbreaking here – not only illegal items are being sold here, but also babies.
Yes, innocent human beings are also peddled in the ‘black market’.
Just this February of the current year, two suspects selling babies on the online black market were arrested.
This came after the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) received a report from the National Authority for Child Care regarding the sale of babies online.
In an operation conducted by the PNP-WCPC, a female police officer acted as a poseur-buyer of the baby where she transacted with someone named “Kuy’s Jay” who offered a baby for ninety thousand pesos.
The two met at a church in Dasmariñas City, Cavite where the transaction became official.
Using marked money, the authorities received the baby from Kuy’s Jay who was later identified as Arjay Escalona Malabanan.
The mother of the baby, Ma. Chariza Rivera Dizon, was also arrested at the scene.
They were immediately charged with complaints at the Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ resolution, the complaint has probable cause, leading to the filing of cases against Malabanan and Dizon at the Manila RTC.
The resolution states that the evidence presented is sufficient to prove the crime of qualified trafficking.
Among the proven facts are that the respondents or accused facilitated the adoption of a newborn baby.
The adoption process involved a payment of ninety thousand pesos (P90,000.00);
The purpose was to expedite the illegal adoption; the trafficking victim is a child; and the trafficking act was carried out using ICT or any computer system and the transaction was made through the Facebook Messenger platform.
“Evidence adduced sufficiently established the crime of qualified trafficking:respondents facilitated the adoption of the newborn baby; facilitation of the adoption was for a consideration of ninety thousand pesos (P90,000.00); purpose was to facilitate illegal adoption; the trafficked victim is a child; and the act of trafficking was committed by or through the use of ICT or any computer system, the transaction having been done through Facebook messenger platform,” according to DOJ Resolution.
The resolution further noted that the respondents’ sale of the baby constitutes an act or form of exploitation.
The prosecutors did not recommend any bail for qualified trafficking.
However, eighty thousand pesos is the recommended bail or bond for Child Exploitation case.
