Infant Trafficking Horror: Baby Sold on Facebook Rescued

A one-month-old baby girl is now safe after the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), working with law enforcement agencies, intercepted a heartbreaking attempt to sell her online for ₱40,000. Authorities said the suspects had allegedly purchased the infant earlier for ₱20,000, intending to resell her for profit treating a human life as merchandise.

According to the NACC, the discovery was as disturbing as it was alarming: babies as young as a month old were being bought and resold through Facebook, where private groups and accounts were reportedly being used as digital marketplaces for human trafficking. The idea that infants were being passed around like goods sent shockwaves through the agency.

The Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) launched an immediate entrapment and rescue operation. Officers posed as buyers and met with the suspects young adults aged 22 and 26 who arrived prepared to hand over the infant in exchange for cash. They were arrested on the spot.

In the middle of the operation, the sight of the tiny baby helpless, unaware, and vulnerable deepened the urgency of the rescue. Authorities rushed her into protective custody, and she has since been placed under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), where she will receive proper support and protection.

The suspects now face charges under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (Republic Act No. 9208), one of the country’s strongest laws against exploitation.

For NACC and the PNP, the case is a painful reminder of how poverty, desperation, and online anonymity are being weaponized against society’s most defenseless infants who cannot speak, cannot resist, and cannot understand the cruelty inflicted upon them.

Authorities vow to continue pursuing those who prey on children, stressing that no price tag should ever be placed on a child’s life.