TWO women were charged yesterday for allegedly stealing a three-month-old boy from his parents and selling him to another person in Barangay Poblacion, Danao City.
Chief Insp. Gerard Ace Pelare, city police commander, said they filed kidnapping and child trafficking charges against Jessica Secretaria Besabella, 46, and Kimjean Bating, 20.
The boy was brought by his father Jimmy along with his older sibling in Danao City last Friday night to beg for alms.
Bating was the contact of Besabella, who was looking for a child for adoption. Besabella promised to pay P25,000.
Bating was first caught by the boy’s father, Jimmy, and Roy Entero, who helped the former in chasing the trisikad carrying the suspect and the boy last Saturday night.
She was turned over to the police, then an entrapment followed.
Besabella was contacted by Banting, who informed her that she had the baby with her.
They agreed to meet outside the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish, where Besabella was arrested.
The suspects reportedly met in Cebu City.
Child trafficking is punishable under Republic Act 10384, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.
The law states that the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, adoption or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be considered as ‘trafficking in persons.’” (KAL)