Detained Sen. 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, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare, and Rural Development, said she is alarmed over continuing reports of “babies-for-sale” trade as this endangers babies’ safety and makes them susceptible to exploitation and abuse.
She has filed Senate Resolution No. 224 tasking the appropriate Senate committee to 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-government organizations 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 newborn babies are being sold both online and offline, for as little as P300 only 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 are reports that babies are sold through popular social media channels like Instagram and Facebook.
Offline transactions, meanwhile, reportedly happen outside public hospitals and in slum communities. (Hannah Torregoza)