DSWD Chief Asks META PH for Swift Action Against Online Baby Selling

Manila – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officials, led by Secretary Rex Gatchalian, on Thursday met with representatives of META Philippines, the parent company of the popular Facebook social media platform, at the Central Office in Quezon City.

According to Philippines News Agency, the meeting resulted from a letter sent by the Office of the DSWD Secretary to META Philippines concerning the proliferation of Facebook accounts being used in the online selling of babies under the guise of adoption. “We have created a working relationship with META whether to report to them directly or through reporting channels to create a more robust mechanism. And to also work with them on developing a campaign against human trafficking,” Gatchalian said in a news release.

The meeting was attended by Undersecretary for International Affairs, Attached and Supervised Agencies (ASAs) Emmeline Aglipay Villar, Assistant Secretary Elaine Fallacurna, and Undersecretary Janella Estrada, executive director of the National Authority for Child Care (NACC). “We have to treat this (online illegal adoption) with the same severity on how META takes immediate action on the violations of the Anti-OSAEC (Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children) law,” Gatchalian told the META representatives.

Estrada informed META that 16 of the 23 reported Facebook pages were already taken down, but new pages were being created by those behind the online selling of infants. Estrada asked META Philippines Director for Public Policy Clare Amador, who expressed their full cooperation, for the immediate removal of the Facebook pages that clearly engage in the illegal selling of babies online. To ensure this problem is addressed seriously, Gatchalian instructed Estrada to create a team in NACC that will monitor these Facebook pages and work with META to develop a more robust mechanism to fight this form of human trafficking.