Poverty pushes dozens of young pregnant women to give their baby up for adoption in exchange for money in the Philippines, where parents looking for a child can "buy" a baby through Facebook for just a few hundred euros.
An example of this occurred a few weeks ago in an apartment in Manila. Joyce, a 39-year-old Filipino beautician, asked for a collector's doll on a Facebook page. The advertiser's response left her stunned: "It's 20,000 pesos (about 400 euros). But it's not a doll, it's a baby I'll give birth to in a month, ma'am."
Who spoke on the other side of the screen was Melissa, a 21-year-old Filipino who, as a result of economic precariousness and the lack of support from her family and ex-partner - which left her pregnant - decided a few months ago to give up and give her future child up for adoption in the vast market of babies for sale in the Philippines.
"I can't give my son a good life, I have no money and I lost my job when I got pregnant. It's very sad but I accepted it and now I just want to make sure it will be in good hands, "Melissa laments in statements to EFE during her second meeting with Joyce, who in addition to collecting dolls was also thinking about adopting a second child.
There is no data or studies on illegal and opaque sales of babies, often conducted through social media. Photo EFE
Forged records
Although the Ministry of Social Affairs acknowledged in 2019 that there were "hundreds of thousands" of people with falsified birth records, there is no data or studies on illegal and opaque sales of babies, often conducted through social media.
The Philippine government, which punishes illegal adoptions with life imprisonment and fines of up to 84,000 euros, pursues these illicit activities that are considered "human trafficking" and that have proliferated in recent years, especially on Facebook, used by more than 90 percent of Filipinos.
"There are more and more Facebook pages where children are adopted illegally," says consultant Wilhelmina Dacanay, of the Kaisahang association, an NGO dedicated to the protection of vulnerable children in the Philippines and funded by the Philippine Ministry of Social Affairs.
Dacanay warns that illegal adoptions are increasing in the Philippines and explains that the lack of papers with which many of these transactions are carried out leaves children defenseless against possible abandonment, with many of them "on the street before they turn 18.
Another possible mishap is the "failed sale", when the adoptive mother regrets her "acquisition" and returns the child to the arms of his biological mother.
In this virtual market there are also barters of babies to obtain a child of the desired sex. Photo EFE
As Efe has learned, in this virtual market there are also barters of babies to obtain a child of the desired sex: if the buyer mother decides that she wants a girl instead of a boy, she presents her case in the networks to exchange it.
Only with verbal agreement
Three days after their first conversation on Facebook, Melissa and Joyce – who use pseudonyms to hide their true identity from possible legal repercussions – had their first meeting in person and agreed that the birth mother stay at the adoptive girl's home until she gives birth to her son.
The young Melissa, with large and expressive black eyes and native of the island of Negros (in the center of the archipelago), narrates in fluent English her hardships before meeting Joyce, who wants to adopt a baby since her firstborn has already emancipated and enters university this year.
"My father died from abusing drugs, and my mother is still hooked on gambling and loses what little she earns. When I got pregnant, he didn't want to help me," Melissa says.
"My ex-boyfriend left me as soon as he found out about my pregnancy, and I don't want to have an abortion [illegal activity in the Philippines]. I can only give my baby to someone who can afford it and takes good care of it," she adds.
Alone and desperate for her lack of income, Melissa easily found one of the numerous Facebook pages where birth and adoptive mothers contact to close the illegal adoption.
Before meeting Joyce he found another mother who was a candidate to adopt his son, traveled to Manila in February to meet her and stayed at her home, but the situation soon turned into a nightmare.
"This woman locked me in a room with hardly any ventilation. He wouldn't let me go out so his neighbors wouldn't see me," as he had assured his lover, who lives abroad, that she was pregnant with him. "He gave me rice every day and little else," Melissa says.
With his health deteriorating from poor nutrition and the suffocating heat of that dark room, he met Joyce on another Facebook page and managed to "escape" from captivity. Now, Melissa expects to give birth next week, and takes refuge in Joyce's house, who provides food and pleasant living conditions.
When Melissa gives birth to her baby, a boy, she expects Joyce to go to the civil registry with the child and certify that she is the biological mother, after which Melissa can return to her hometown and fulfill the verbal agreement between them not to see the child again.
EFE Agency
PB
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