By Charissa Luci-Atienza

Poor, young and desperate parents, especially mothers, may have the option to properly and safely relinquish newborn infants to recognizing child-caring and child-placing agencies and institutions, while remaining anonymous and without fear of being prosecuted for child abandonment under a bill filed at the House of Representatives.

House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and his wife, Tingog Sinirangan party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez filed House Bill No. 4158 proposing a safe haven for abandoned newborn.

The couple lawmakers cited the need to repeal Article 276 of the Revised Penal Code, which considers as a criminal act the abandonment of a child under seven years of age by a person upon whom the custody of a child is incumbent, lamenting “that these legal restrictions have not deterred the rising incidence of infant abandonment.”

“Poverty is often a root cause of child abandonment especially when for reasons of economic, social or psychological distress or incapability, the parents are unprepared to raise their child. However the fear of criminal prosecution causes desperate parents, often young mothers who are not ready to take on the responsibilities of parenthood, to abandon newborn infants often in unsafe places and in life-threatening conditions,” they said in filing House Bill No. 4158.

House Bill 4158 or the proposed “Newborn Infant Safe Haven Act” provides that an infant who is 72 hours old or younger may be relinquished by his or her parents with a safe haven provider.

“By making the welfare of the newborn an immediate concern and ensuring their health and safety, this bill provides an alternative that could save the life of newborn infants and ensure that they are protected and provided with medical care until a permanent home is found for them,” they said.

Under the bill, a safe haven provider includes any of the following: a police officer or firefighter who is on duty; an emergency medical technician who is on duty, a medical staff member at a general hospital who is on duty; a staff member or volunteer of a licensed child-caring agency, a license child-placing agency or a church that posts a conspicuous public notice stating in plain terms that is willing to accept a newborn infant; and any other person that shall be designated as a safe haven provider by the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development.

HB 4158 mandates the safe haven provider to immediately transport the infant to a hospital for a physical examination or any medical treatment necessary to ensure the physical health or safety of the newborn infant.

The hospital shall conduct a comprehensive medical examination and such tests to determine any possible infection or illness such as HIV, hepatitis, fetal exposure to alcohol or drug, injury due to neglect or abuse, and the infant’s estimated date of birth, if not previously known.

The bill provides that no later than the close of the first business day after the date on which the safe haven provider takes custody of the infant, the safe haven provider shall notify the nearest office of the Department that the infant has been relinquished and the Department of Social Welfare and Development shall immediately assume the care, control, and custody of the newborn.

Under the bill, a parent who relinquishes a newborn to a designated safe haven provider and any person who assists the parents in that relinquishment have the right to remain anonymous.

Refusal by the parents to provide the name, identity and medical history of the infant and their personal information shall not prevent the safe haven provider from accepting the newborn.

House Bill 4158 provides that parents of the infant fail to contact for 30 days after the date of relinquishment, they are considered to have abandoned the infant safely and the parent’s legal duty to support the infant is effectively terminated, without the need of a court order.

However, if the parents of the newborn returns to reclaim the child within 72 hours after the relinquishment, the safe haven provider shall inform them of the name and location of the hospital to which the newborn was transported.

Under the measure, a safe haven provider shall be immune from any criminal liability that otherwise might result from carrying out their responsibility or any civil liability that might result from merely receiving, in good faith, a newborn child from the parents, but is not immune from any civil or criminal liability for any act or omission occurring in subsequently providing care for the newborn.

All identifying information, documentation or other records regarding the identity of the newborn infant relinquished to a designated safe haven provider, or of the parents who voluntarily delivered the infant shall be confidential and not subject to release to any individual or entity except when the court finds that the interest of the child or the public would be better served by the disclosure of such information, documentation or other records.

The DSWD Secretary is tasked to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed Act within 60 days from its effectivity.