Newborn baby abducted inside Cagayan hospital

A newborn baby was kidnapped inside a hospital in Cagayan province, further raising fears of unscrupulous individuals taking infants from their mothers and selling them for profit. The modus operandi used in Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City was similar to that used in other reported cases of infant abduction. A report on GMA News' "Brigada" program said the buying and selling of babies is rampant around Metro Manila hospitals. According to a report on GMA News TV's “Balita Pilipinas” Thursday, the suspect befriended the infant's mother, 19-year-old Juvelyn Hernandez, while she was still confined at the hospital after giving birth to twins last December. The report said Hernandez immediately trusted the woman and even allowed her to carry one of the twins. On January 4, however, while Hernandez was sleeping, the woman took one of the babies. Witnesses, who were also patients in the pediatric ward of the hospital, saw the incident but did not stop the woman since they thought she was a relative of Hernandez. Hernandez appealed to the abductor to return her child, who is less than two weeks old, premature and underweight. “Sana po, ate, ibalik mo na ang anak namin dahil mahal na mahal po namin siya. Binuwis ko po ang buhay ko sa kanya para lang mabuhay siya. Maawa naman po kayo sa amin. Kung sino man po ang kasama mong kumuha, ibalik niyo na po ang bata sa amin dahil hindi pa siya malakas, premature po siya,” she said in a phone patch interview. The report said the hospital's closed circuit television (CCTV) was able to record the incident but the footage has yet to be released to the media. Police is now investigating the incident and using the footage for further leads. The hospital management is also coordinating with the provincial social welfare and development office to locate the abductor and the baby. — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News