LAW enforcement authorities recovered before dawn Tuesday a newborn baby from the house of a nursing student suspected of taking him from the hospital where he was born.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and police operatives, in cooperation with the Provincial Government, rescued the baby from Katleen Carl Cañolas at her home in Azagra village, Tanjay City, some 37 kilometers from Dumaguete City.

Panagbenga 2009 blog

Lawyer Dominador Cimafranca, NBI Dumaguete field office chief, said Cañolas admitted taking the baby when questioned by bureau personnel in front of doctors and Provincial Legal Officer Erwin Vergara around 3 a.m. Tuesday inside the delivery room of the government-run Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital.

Cañolas said she took the baby because she wants to have one, adding that her live-in partner believed her to be pregnant.

The baby's father Teo (real name withheld) said Cañolas, whom he mistook for a nurse, asked for his son for dressing purposes.

Cañolas is a nursing student and knows her way around a hospital, and she even wore a nurse's uniform when she got the baby.

The baby's mother was bothered when Cañolas did not return her son.

Dr. Felix Sy, hospital chief, said in a separate interview it was hospital policy to turn over newborn babies to their parents so they can be breastfeed immediately.

The hospital, he added, has implemented stricter security measures after the incident, including limiting a single watcher per patient.

Cañolas faces kidnapping charges and has waived her right to preliminary investigation.

She was assisted by her lawyer from the Public Attorney's Office (PAO).

Cañolas is now detained at the city jail pending her transfer to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Dumaguete City.