Baby Found In Airplane Garbage Bag At Manila Airport

[Whisper]

MANILA — Authorities in the Philippines on Monday tried to trace the mother who gave birth then abandoned her newborn baby on a flight from the Middle East.

The baby boy, covered in blood and wrapped in tissue paper, was found by an airport security officer in a garbage bag unloaded from the plane that arrived from Bahrain on Sunday. He was brought to an airport clinic, where doctors and nurses examined him and cleaned him, wrapped him in cloth and gave him a bottle of milk, airport officials said.

"When we initially saw the baby, his colour was not right. His colour should be pinkish," airport doctor Maria Teresa Agores told reporters. But after the baby was cleaned, "he regained his natural colour."

He also let off a soft cry, nurse Kate Calvo said.

"He was healthy, his vital signs were OK according to our doctors," she added.

A security officer noticed something moving in a garbage bag that was reportedly unloaded from a Gulf Air plane that arrived from Bahrain and found the baby inside, an airport statement said. The baby, given the name George Francis after Gulf Air's code name GF, was later turned over to social workers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Gulf Air officials were not immediately available for comment.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman she was angered by what happened, adding that police had been ordered to search for the infant's mother, who could be criminally charged.

"I was simply outraged, no infant should be treated that way," Soliman said.

She said the baby will be turned over to the mother's relatives -- if they can be identified and located -- or put up for adoption.

About one in 10 Filipino works abroad, many as maids and labourers in the Middle East, to escape crushing poverty and unemployment at home.

Doctors who attended to the baby said he looked Filipino, fueling speculation in local media that the boy's mother could be a domestic worker in the Middle East.

But Manila Airport Manager Jose Angel Honrado said it was too early to make that conclusion since a joint investigation of airport police and Gulf Air had not yet traced the mother.

"Although the plane came from Bahrain, we cannot come up with that conclusion because we don't even know the mother," he told The Associated Press.
[...]

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/2010...irport-100912/

Nurses attend to a newborn baby found inside the lavatory of an airplane at Manila's international airport, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010.

Video at link

[Silvahalo]

"He also let off a soft cry, nurse Kate Calvo said."...I'm sure he did, a cry of relief.

Poor sweetie. So glad the security officer noticed him otherwise he would have been killed or died in short time.
I hope baby George Francis is placed in a caring home, he deserves a fair chance to be loved.

[nopatience]

When I clicked this, I was expecting another abandoned, dead baby. I'm so glad it's not. As horrible as it is that he was basically thrown out, I'm so relieved that he was found and has a real chance at life. I will never understand how someone can throw your own flesh and blood in the trash and literally walk away from them

[Nell]

The women that go to these countries to work are very rural and poor. She may have been raped by her employer, we don't know. I am very glad she didn't kill him.

George Francis is a great name.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A woman from Luzon believed to be the mother of George Francis, the infant abandoned in the lavatory bin of a Gulf Air plane, is now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

The woman arrived in Manila at 5:30 p.m. yesterday on AirPhil Express flight 2P019 escorted by NBI agents.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula said the woman’s identity would be withheld for her protection.

“We are gender sensitive. We cannot identify her nor give any description,” said Gatdula. “Once her identity is known, her husband might kill her. We do not know what the circumstances are.”

Gatdula said the woman might be charged with abandonment, in violation of Republic Act 7610, the law against child abuse.

He said another woman, possible a sister or a cousin, accompanied the suspected mother to NBI headquarters in Manila.

Gatdula also said that the woman does not want to talk and appears “detached.”

“We do not want to force her to talk. We do not know if she was raped, or she had an affair. We do not know. We still have to check with her,” he said.

Gatdula clarified that the woman was not arrested, only invited for questioning.

“There was no arrest warrant. She was surprised how she was found. She was found in her barrio, at her address,” he said.

The woman was supposedly the 80th passenger to check in for the flight to Manila from Bahrain.

The NBI said the woman wrote down her name, date of birth and passport number in the immigration arrival card but did not fill out the address portion to avoid being traced.
[...]

Many Filipino families have expressed intention of adopting George Francis but Biloena said they would also look for relatives of the baby who are willing to take care of him.

“Adoption is our last resort,” she said.

Rep. Lani Mercado Revilla said the supposed mother of George Francis should be given medical attention and understanding.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=612406

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Philippine woman who acknowledged giving birth to a baby on a flight from the Middle East and then leaving him in the trash on the plane said she was raped by her employer, a lawmaker said Thursday.
[...]

Rep. Lani Mercado said she met Thursday with the woman, who told her that she had been raped by her employer while working as a maid in Qatar and became pregnant. She said her employer's wife then forced her to return home, and she managed to hide her pregnancy and board a flight.

"She had labor pains in the plane," Mercado told The Associated Press. "Then she gave birth."

Mercado said the woman told her she abandoned the baby because she was afraid of what her family would say.
[...]

The woman gave birth while the plane was approaching Manila, according to the bureau's chief, Magtanggol Gatdula. The woman has been shown a picture of the child, and "she's very eager to see her baby," he said.

The woman left in June last year to work in Qatar for three years, and her family was surprised when she suddenly returned home, said police Inspector Jeffrey Vicente, quoting her husband in northern Apayao province with whom she has two children.

The six-pound, nine-ounce (three-kilogram) baby - still attached to the placenta - was found wrapped in tissue paper. Airport officials said the baby, already bluish in color, may have died within a few minutes had he not been found.

The baby, temporarily named George Francis after Gulf Air's flight code GF, is now fine but underwent an X-ray because of two bumps on his head, welfare officer Thelsa Biolena said. The results have not yet been released.

The 30-year-old woman was located Wednesday in Apayao after investigators set out to find the person who sat in a bloodstained seat on the plane.

Authorities brought her to Manila for questioning and testing. They did not release her name.
[...]

The mother could face criminal charges for abandoning her child, Soliman said.

About 20 couples, including some from abroad, have offered to adopt the boy, she said.

About one in 10 Filipinos works abroad, many as domestic workers and laborers in the Middle East, to escape crushing poverty and unemployment at home.

http://www.koco.com/r/25029524/detail.html

[Dneilz]

Nell hit the nail on the head.... "raped by employer". How sad.

[Marv]

The mother could face criminal charges for abandoning her child, Soliman said

But her rapist will get away scott free, and go on to do it again and again to all the other dirt-poor women who go to work for him.

Even if this woman tried to get him punished for raping her, the tables would be turned so that SHE got charged for having sex outside marriage and enticing a married man to commit adultery! Good job she managed to get out of Qatar before she gave birth, or her and the baby would probably have been sentenced to death by stoning.


I hope the baby finds a happy home and has a great life.