The Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group has intensified its cyber patrolling in response to alarming cases of online baby trafficking.
Police Lt. Wallen Arancillo, spokesperson for the PNP-ACG, said that their director, PBGen. Ronnie Francis Cariaga, has ordered the monitoring of Facebook pages involved in the said illegal activity.
The cases have been described as rampant, prompting the department to alert their units on the ground.
The most recent case recorded by the ACG involved a 26-year-old mother selling her one-day-old baby in Caloocan City that was apprehended after the unit conducted an entrapment operation.
The mother herself posted in a Facebook group that she was selling her own baby for P40,000. She was arrested and claimed that she had no means to support the child and also needed funds for her father's maintenance.
The suspect will be facing charges under the Republic Act 9208, also known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
Arancillo further mentioned that the babies being sold are helpless and cannot protect themselves, which is why the ACG is prioritizing this matter.
