The economic consequences of the pandemic have further increased this criminal market, with the danger that it will spread to other human trafficking networks. The scant police and institutional control, aggravated by the lack of specific investigation bodies: barely a dozen cases reached the courts in 2021.
Manila () – Among the consequences of the economic difficulties in the Philippines and the reduction of control measures by the police and institutions, there has been a significant increase in illegal adoptions and a reduction in their cost, at least in what refers to the sums received by the families of origin. The practice was already widespread before Covid due to persistent poverty and lack of access to education and health care that increase the difficulties of mothers in the most degraded realities. But the “supply” has grown during the pandemic, while the “demand” for potential adoptive families has decreased, increasing the risk that children as young as a few days or, at most, a few weeks old end up in the hands of other criminal networks. engaged in sexual exploitation, illegal labor or organ trafficking.
The price of a newborn has also dropped to $100, with exceptions that take into account origin and appearance. In this infamous market, mestizo children are valued more, but even so, it reaches figures of the order of 1,000 dollars. This form of trafficking relied on direct knowledge and networks known only to a few, fueled above all by the unwanted pregnancies of young women more or less directly involved in prostitution. With the pandemic, the increase in needs and the more intensive use of the Internet have favored the development of this and other criminal activities on the Internet. All this in a context that already in 2019 had registered an average of 3,000 monthly complaints from abroad of Filipino children involved in sexual exploitation through the internet.
Adoption outside official channels is obviously illegal and is punishable by life imprisonment and heavy fines, but the difficulty in identifying those responsible is also due to the lack of specific investigative bodies that support the work of many socially committed organizations. The International Operations Division of the National Bureau of Investigation identified and followed up in 2021 about ten cases of “commercial adoption”.
It is estimated that close to two million minors in the Philippines live without family, with a high risk of exploitation. On the other hand, the legal system can only guarantee a few thousand adoptions. Once again, the lack of resources and specialized personnel is the main limitation along with the reduction in demand. In an attempt to limit the scope of illegality, the Domestic Administrative Adoption Act – the adoption law proposed by Senators Risa Hontiveros and Pia Cayetano, which has been in force since January – establishes shorter terms, from six to nine months, and more agile for adoption under the management of the National Authority for Child Care. It is important to recognize that paternity no longer depends on blood relations but on the will to guarantee the well-being of adopted children.
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