Authorities have successfully returned a baby after a child revealed that their mother sold their newborn sibling to buy a cellphone.
According to Catalina Abella, focal person of Cebu City Social Welfare and Services (CSWS), a concerned citizen heard the child's statement and immediately reported it to the authorities.
"The children also said that they already have cellphones because their older brother sold them to some mother," according to Abella.
On March 7, 2025, a social media post alerted authorities that a child was being sold in Brgy. Duljo Fatima.
Because of this, CSWS immediately conducted an investigation together with Mambaling Police Station 11.
When they spoke to the mother, she admitted that she had already given the baby to a middleman.
"That's when we found out that they had sold and then they had a recruiter/middleman," said Abella.
Luckily, Abella met the middleman who happened to be the mother's neighbor, so they immediately went to his house.
The middleman initially denied the allegation, but the middleman's son later admitted it.
The baby was discovered to be only 22 days old when the mother sold it for P30,000 while she was still in the hospital.
The baby is the woman's eighth child, and the investigation revealed that she had previously sold the seventh child.
According to the mother, she did this because of poverty, but authorities discovered that she was also using illegal drugs.
"Abella added."
Meanwhile, according to neighbor Gretchen Bucol, they had been suspicious since the mother returned home from giving birth without the baby.
