Student, searching for cellphone signal, finds week-old baby left beside Zamboanguita cliff instead
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines — A 14-year-old Grade 12 student was searching for a signal for her mobile phone about a kilometer from her residence in Sitio Panunquibon, Barangay Nasig-id, Zamboanguita town in Negros Oriental, when she heard a baby crying in a secluded area at noon on December 26, 2019.
Out of fear, Lovely Espada ran back home and told her brother Raul, 26, a construction worker, about what she heard.
“Nangita na siya og signal didto nga area. Nakadungog siya ug hilak sa bata. Mao tong midalagan siya sa ila ug misulti sa iyang igsoon,” said Staff Sergeant Leah Lumayag, investigator of the Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) in an interview with CDN Digital.
(She was searching for a mobile phone signal when she heard a baby crying. She got scared and ran back home to tell her brother about what she heard.)
The siblings went back to the area and found a week-old baby girl beside a cliff.
The baby was wrapped with a towel and she had soil all over her body.
Raul, who reported the incident to the police, said they immediately brought the baby to the Rural Health Unit (RHU) in Zamboanguita for immediate medical attention.
The baby is in good medical condition, however, she suffered minor wounds.
According to Lumayag “Nagcoordinate ko karon sa barangay captain sa Nasig-id ug neighboring barangays kung si kinsa ang mga nanganak didto ug gilabay ang bata. Kay wala may nakakita sa paglabay sa bata.”
(We are coordinating with the barangay captain of Nasig-id and the neighboring barangays to find out who had given birth in their areas, who could possibly be the person responsible for leaving the baby on the cliff because nobody had seen who could have been responsible for that.)
Lumayag said that the place where the baby was thrown was a kilometer away from a residential area.
“Nagcoordinate na pud mi sa RHU sa midwives sa barangay ug silingang barangay kinsa ang nanganak,” Lumayag said.
(We are also coordinating with the RHU to the midwives of the barangay and those in the neighboring barangays to identify the mother of the baby.)
As of press time the baby is still at the RHU and is scheduled to be brought to the Department of Social Welfare and Development Central office ( DSWD-7) in Cebu, Lumayag said./dbs
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
