Police arrested a 17-year-old mother for allegedly selling her one-month-old child for US$930 during an entrapment operation at a fast-food restaurant in Quezon City on Jan 6, 2025. - Philippine National Police Women and Children’s Protection Center
MANILA: The Philippine National Police Women and Children’s Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) flagged a rise in cases of individuals selling infants online in 2025.
Eight people were arrested for selling their babies last year, up from five in 2024, WCPC Chief Brig Gen Maria Sheila Portento told reporters at Camp Crame on Thursday (Jan 8).
“It spread like wildfire all of a sudden… It’s because online platforms have become very accessible. You can sell almost anything online now. And it’s so alarming,” she said in Filipino.
“There are many sites online where we are cyberpatrolling… We are closely coordinating with social media platforms and requesting them to take down the posts selling children,” she added.
According to Portento, the most common reason cited by those arrested was their inability to support the child.
She noted, however, that people unable to care for their children can have them placed for adoption through the National Authority for Child Care.
“They can just surrender them without making a profit off it,” Portento said in Filipino.
She, however, conceded that the WCPC’s information was only based on its operations and cannot account for children “sold” offline.
This follows WCPC Chief Portento’s report that the unit had entrapped a 17-year-old mother in Quezon City last Tuesday for allegedly attempting to sell her one-month-old baby for P55,000 (US$930).
The infant and the teenager were turned over to the city’s social services department, while the teenager faces possible charges for human trafficking and violations of Republic Act No. 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.
Last July, the Commission on Human Rights urged the government to “strengthen monitoring and regulation of online platforms, enhance surveillance and investigative capabilities and ensure the swift prosecution and conviction of perpetrators” of “child selling.”
“No child should ever be bought, sold, or treated as a commodity,” it stressed. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
