By Hannah Torregoza

Detained Senator Leila De Lima is seeking a Senate investigation into the alleged rampant buying and selling of newborn babies in underground black markets in the country.

De Lima, chair of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, said she was alarmed over continuing reports of “babies-for-sale” trade as this endangers babies’ safety and makes them susceptible to exploitation and abuse.

De Lima, in filing Senate Resolution (SR) No. 224, said the appropriate Senate committee should dig deeper and probe the “babies-for-sale” trade that are being done both through online and offline transactions.

“Despite the efforts of both the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address the illegal baby-for-sale trade, significant solutions remain to be elusive,” de Lima lamented.

“Poverty remains to be one of the main drivers in the prevalence of such atrocious illegal activity, and the continued proliferation of appalling activities relating to the exploitation, trafficking and abuse of babies,” she added.

Citing news reports, de Lima said a considerable number of new-born babies were being sold both online and offline, for as little as P300 across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

In the Philippines alone, where social media platforms are easily and widely accessed by ordinary citizens, de Lima said there were reports that babies were sold through popular social media channels like Instagram and Facebook.

Offline transactions, meanwhile, reportedly happen outside public hospitals and in slum communities.

She said women in slum neighborhoods claim that six (6) out of 10 women have either sold or know someone who has sold a baby.

De Lima recalled that last Sept. 4, an American citizen named Jennifer Talbot was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after she attempted to smuggle a six-day-old baby out of the country.

Philippine authorities later filed human trafficking charges against her for illegally purchasing the baby from a teenage Filipino mother.

In light of these alarming developments, De Lima said it was imperative for lawmakers to conduct a comprehensive review of the implementation of existing adoption and anti-trafficking laws for possible amendments.

“Assessments from experts point out that one of the problem areas that exacerbate the baby-for-sale trade is the adoption system in the Philippines. The current system is described to be tedious, multilayered, and highly bureaucratic, and even takes years to process,” she noted.

While the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is aware of the problems on babies-for-sale trade, she said the agency itself admitted that it “is hardly making a dent” on the matter.

In seeking a Senate probe, De Lima said the government should immediately address the issue as it may lead to further crimes, such as illicit human organ trade, sex trafficking, child pornography and other abuses against children.

“The State must ensure that in mobilizing government agencies in the creation of a peaceful environment that is free from crime and drugs, equal effort is exerted in protecting children and generations yet to come from predators that are operating in circumvention of and in violation of existing domestic and international laws,” she said.