Panayam kay NACC - Domestic Administrative Adoption Division Chief Imelda Ronda
Panayam kay NACC - Domestic Administrative Adoption Division Chief Imelda Ronda
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00:00Updates on the social media pages of online selling or adoption of babies
00:05and their continuous entrapment operations.
00:08We will find out more about this with Imelda Ronda,
00:12Domestic Administrative Adoption Division Chief of the National Authority for Child Care.
00:18Ms. Imelda, Ma'am Imelda, good afternoon and welcome to Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
00:24Yes, good afternoon to you Ms. Nina and Usec Marks Gutierrez.
00:31So, yes, there are a lot of accounts on social media that are gone.
00:40Either self-deactivated or others are taken down by the META PH
00:48and the DICP Cybercrime Investigation Coordinating Center.
00:53The 23 accounts reported by the NECC or National Authority for Child Care, almost all of them are gone.
01:01So, there are only three accounts that were returned last week.
01:07There are two new accounts that we saw today.
01:10There are also personal accounts that are fulfilling their services to those who want to adopt.
01:18We really need to check and monitor these personal accounts.
01:24So, I think it's clear now that we can see their new modes.
01:32A lot of people were surprised because the Intensified Government Operations against online babysitting was reported.
01:42Ma'am, how many were taken down so far?
01:48As for the 23 accounts, only two are left.
01:54Actually, these three accounts were just returned last week.
01:57We saw two new accounts, new accounts for online babysitting.
02:06Ma'am, in your opinion...
02:08Yes, 20.
02:12So, Ma'am, those are 23 accounts, right?
02:14Yes, 23 accounts.
02:18Ma'am, in your cooperation with DICT, is there a chance for anyone who is creating social media pages to learn about this so that they can be held accountable for the law?
02:33Actually, last June 3, our Executive Director, Undersecretary Jalena Ejel Soto-Estrada,
02:43contacted DICT Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
02:48So they told us that they have the platform to identify and track a specific perpetrator.
02:56The only problem is that it's anonymous.
02:59But DICT and ICC are already working on ways to really delete the names of the accounts on your Facebook page.
03:12At last, on June 30, NECC also talked to META Philippines.
03:19It was spearheaded by our parent agency, the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
03:25So what we want is that they put up a mechanism to provide and help identify and track our law enforcement agency to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators.
03:39Facebook is data-free and because of these groups, it is easier for the illegal adopters to interact with the parents who want to sell their babies,
03:55who are the agents to them.
03:57So this is important so that the illegal activities on Facebook will not happen again.
04:04According to the data and your communication with PNP,
04:09how many social media pages do you have about selling babies online?
04:18And is it possible that there are more of these or there are more unidentified?
04:22Because I'm not too sure.
04:25What is the 23 that you are saying and what is the 7?
04:28Is it correct that it was closed?
04:30So only 23?
04:34We identified through the PNP Women and Children Protection Center that it is involved in the operations of these online baby sellings.
04:44NECC is monitoring these online accounts.
04:51So again, the confirmed Facebook group is 23 and as we can see, only five are active and three are surfacing.
05:03They were gone before but now they are back and there are two new accounts.
05:12It is easy for them to change their name and go back to Facebook.
05:19Even if these adoption groups are gone, it is still easy for them to create Facebook groups whose title is no longer adoption.
05:30So they can hide from other names that the group is no longer adoption,
05:36it is no longer Baby for Adoption, it is no longer Bagong Silang, or any other name that is related to adoption.
05:44That is why it is important to continuously monitor them.
05:50Ma'am, for your entrapment operations,
05:54can you give us details about the last time you caught someone selling babies online?
06:00Where were they and who were the suspects and the kidnappers?
06:07So last June 1, two victims of the kidnapping were intercepted in Catarman, Northern Samar,
06:15where their mother sold them for P30,000 per child.
06:22The first one to be sold was a two-month-old boy based on the report of the Catarman Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office.
06:34When they met up, I accompanied the mother to sell her two-year-old daughter who is a girl.
06:45At present, they are under the care of the DSWT, the Local Social Welfare and Development Offices.
06:55Ma'am, can you tell us, in these operations, do you know where the children will be taken?
07:05As of now, we do not have concrete information on where the children will be taken.
07:12Okay, so we do not know if these are parents who have no children or if they are being trafficked or exploited.
07:22This news is really saddening, but at least we are slowly catching those who are doing this.
07:31So in total, how many are you catching with the help of the PNP who are doing this illegal adoption and selling children?
07:42So since February, when the PNP Women and Children Protection Committee started their operation, I have already caught three separate instances.
08:04So on May 15, two were caught in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
08:10The first one is Hente, who declared that he was employed by a local government unit in Dasmariñas.
08:19He accompanied the mother, who was just giving birth at the time.
08:24The baby that was being sold was only eight days old at the time.
08:31The mother brought the baby from Manila, Tondo to Dasmariñas, Cavite to sell the baby for P40,000.
08:46Hente, on the other hand, deposited P50,000.
08:50So the total value of the baby was P90,000.
08:58So on May 16, they were inquested and both of them waived their rights to avail of preliminary investigation and they both acceded to the evidence at hand.
09:12So now, these two perpetrators are detained in Camp Ramey.
09:19The third mother, who was arrested in Catanaman, Northern Samar on June 1,
09:26she was also charged with violating the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Law and Child Abuse.
09:34They could be sentenced to life imprisonment and be fined from P2 million to P5 million.
09:44Ma'am, for clarification, the news that was released or said by the DOJ through the spokesperson, Asec Mico Clavano,
09:56he said that more than 500 plus accounts were taken down.
10:01So this is different from the 23 accounts that you said you saw and about seven that you already took down.
10:11This is different from the report that the DOJ is saying.
10:17This is just the one that was monitored by the National Authority for Child Care and we are coordinating with the PNP and the DICT, Cybercrime Investigations.
10:33Ma'am, we would also like to ask for an update on the National Congress on Adoption and Alternative Child Care in Pampanga.
10:42What important facts are you going to discuss here?
10:48Yes, thank you very much for this opportunity to promote our activity, the National Congress on Adoption and Alternative Child Care.
10:58This is an initiative organized by the NECC for our partners, local government units through their local chief executives, the mayors,
11:11along with their local social welfare and development officers, child welfare professionals, and several national government agencies
11:21where we discuss the NECC's programs on adoption and alternative child care.
11:29This is also the aim of this activity to strengthen our coordination with the various LCUs with the help of our mayors and social workers
11:40of their local social welfare and development offices throughout the country.
11:44In May, we were able to organize each regional cluster. We have four clusters.
11:51The first one is the Samilganaw Cluster where this was postponed from May 6 to 7 in Davao City.
11:59This was organized by 27 mayors and 118 LGUs.
12:05For the National Capital Region and South Luzon Clusters, this was postponed from May 22 to 23 here in Manila.
12:16There were 10 mayors and 108 LGUs.
12:21The Central Luzon and Northern Luzon Clusters will continue from tomorrow, June 19 to 20, in Clark, Pampanga.
12:33The last cluster is the Visayas Cluster that will be held from June 26 to 27 in Cebu City.
12:41We are expecting that more than 200 LGUs will participate.
12:47We wanted to bring the programs and services to our adoptive and foster families through our foster care program
12:59and accreditation of our LGU social workers who will specialize on adoption and alternative child care.
13:07Specifically, we want to strengthen the Philippine Foster Care Program.
13:13We already have 26 LGUs who joined our Memorandum of Agreement for the development of foster parents.
13:23While there are 23 LGUs who will sign and 25 LGUs who will be processed to join their respective towns and cities.
13:35So all of these LGUs are committing to help to expand our program in legal adoption and fostering of children in need of families.
13:47So here in our foster care program, our mayors and LGUs are committing to develop at least 10 foster parents in their city or municipality.
14:03So that is our program.
14:09Ma'am good luck for your event and thank you very much for your time.
14:14Ma'am Imelda Ronda, Domestic Administrative Adoption Division Chief of the National Authority for Child Care of the DSWD. Thank you.