POLICE operatives arrested a mother in the act of selling her one-year-old baby boy during an entrapment operation in Tagum City in Davao del Norte last Tuesday, police reported yesterday.
Maj. Anjanette Tirador, deputy chief of the Women and Children Protection Desk of the Tagum City police station, said the suspect, who was not identified, is a resident of the city, in her late 20s, and jobless.
Tirador said the suspect was arrested last Tuesday afternoon and her baby now under the care of the city government.
Tirador said the entrapment operation was hatched based on information provided by an informant who reported a message posted on the Facebook group “Tagum City Business Shop Online” offering a baby for P200,000.
It turned out the message was posted by the baby’s mother, using a dummy account.
When no one showed interest, Tirador said the mother posted another message on the same Facebook group that she would kill the child.
Tirador said the threat alarmed the informant, who reported the matter to the police.
A policeman-poseur buyer arranged to buy the child, leading to the suspect’s arrest and the rescue of her child at the suspect’s residence. The operation was witnessed by representatives from the city’s social welfare and development office.
Tirador said the suspect, now facing charges of violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law and the Anti Child Abuse Law, told the police she was selling her child because she cannot feed him.
