When you’re a young parent just trying to make ends meet and support a family, it can often feel like you’re continually met with difficult decisions when it comes to finding financial stability. It’s often when you get extremely desperate or impulsive and children are involved that things can quickly escalate into dangerous territory. A Philippines couple is facing 20 years in prison after reportedly putting their 12-day-old daughter for sale online before they were caught in a sting operation at a busy shopping center.
The mother is 22 years old and the father is 19 years old, and they are facing a lengthy prison sentence after allegedly trying to sell their baby online for £345, or about $470 US, per Metro. The parents were arrested during an entrapment operation at a busy mall on February 2, 2026, in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, per GMA News Online.
After spotting the couple eating at a fast food establishment, authorities from the Philippine National Police’s Women and Children Protection Center “swooped in” and arrested them on suspicion of human trafficking and child abuse, Metro reported.
Investigators said the parents “planned to use the money as start-up capital for a street cart,” which would sell popular Philippine snacks such as fish balls and deep-fried quail eggs, per Metro.
After the rescue, the baby girl was handed over to the National Authority for Child Care for a health and medical check, the Daily Tribune reported.
“The life of a child is invaluable and must never be used as a commodity, and certainly not be exchanged for any amount, regardless of the circumstances,” NACC Undersecretary Janella Ejercito Estrada said, per the news outlet.
The parents are facing charges for violation of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022 for qualified trafficking, and the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, GMA News Online reported.
According to the outlet, the agency is looking for a “capable relative” to care for the baby before it puts her up for adoption. All we can hope for is that the infant is cared for, safe, and content in her next home.
