THE Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday said it had filed charges against a woman who tried to sell her newborn baby online and the woman who helped her do it in a first move against a thriving black market on social media.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said qualified trafficking and child exploitation charges were filed against Ma. Chariza Rivera Dizon, the baby's mother, and her companion, Arjay Escalona Malabanan, before a Manila regional trial court.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) before the Justice Department against Malabanan and Dizon.

On Feb. 12, 2024, the PNP-WCPC acted upon the information reported by the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) about a "black market" proliferating on some social media groups and communities where aspiring parents seek to illegally adopt children.

Several days later, the PNP-WCPC, using a policewoman who pretended to be a buyer of a baby, was able to close a transaction with a certain "Kuy's Jay," who offered to sell them a newborn child for P90,000.

The police agent pretending to be an aspiring parent and "Kuy's Jay" agreed to meet at Concepcion Church in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, where the deal was sealed.

Using marked money, authorities were able to receive the baby from Kuy's Jay, who was later identified as the accused Malabanan and arrested right there and then the baby's mother, co-accused Dizon.

"Evidence adduced sufficiently established the crime of qualified trafficking: respondents facilitated the adoption of the newborn baby; facilitation of the adoption was for a consideration of P90,000; purpose was to facilitate illegal adoption; the trafficked victim is a child; and the act of trafficking was committed by or through the use of ICT or any computer system, the transaction having been done through [the] Facebook Messenger platform," the DoJ said.

"The act of respondents in selling the newborn child is an act of exploitation," it added.

On May 20, officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-National Authority on Child Care (DSWD-NACC) said they were monitoring Facebook pages that were peddling children in the guise of adoption.

NACC Executive Director and DSWD Undersecretary Janella Estrada said they found 20 to 30 Facebook accounts buying and selling children.

"We have been monitoring the sale since last year, and in February, we coordinated with the Philippine National Police to apprehend the people involved in these pages," she said.

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said there was rampant sale of babies on social media, particularly Facebook, with some being sold by their parents.

"This is a cruel form of child exploitation and, at the same time, a cruel form of human trafficking... It is ongoing and a bothersome concern that the public must know," he said.

In a statement, Remulla said "children are the most precious treasures of society meant to be fully protected by law; they are the best investments of today for a better tomorrow. We will never allow anyone to exploit them in any way."

The prosecutors recommended no bail for the qualified trafficking charges and a bail of P80,000 for the child exploitation charges.