RESIDENTS of Barangay Cogon, Compostela, Cebu found a newborn baby girl crying among the bamboo plants Saturday night.
Her 22-year-old mother “purposely threw her away,” said Cogon Barangay Captain Joven Amor.
Amor told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that he has the young mother in his custody and that he will meet with the town’s social workers to evaluate her case.
He explained that if the baby had died, she would automatically face a case.
Amor, however, said the baby is healthy and has begun drinking milk from a bottle.
The baby was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development office in Cebu City.
Although the baby girl was discovered Saturday night, they didn’t get the identity of the mother until the next day.
Amor said he met with barangay councilors Sunday morning and they decided to ask the neighbors if they knew or saw anything.
Amor said he came across what looked like a placenta. So he asked a local midwife to have a look at it and she confirmed that it was indeed placenta.
Amor said they then searched the perimeter around a 100 meter radius and came across a house.
There, he learned that a young mother had just given birth.
He found it surprising that she was not weak from childbirth, considering that she had the baby all by herself.
“Mura ra man siya’g wala (She acted like she hadn’t given birth),” Amor said.
The local midwife checked the woman and said that the latter did indeed just give birth.
The girl told him it was her second child and that she doesn’t have a husband.
He said the girl and child lived with her mother in the house.
“Wala ma’y komentaryo. Nangambot ra (She was mum about the whole thing),” Amor said when asked what the girl’s mother had to say.
Because yesterday was a holiday, Amor had yet to meet with the town’s social workers on what to do about the case. (MEA)
