Child Trafficking

The Child Abuse Law, RA 7610, defines child trafficking as" trading and dealing with children including, but not limited to, the act of buying and selling a child for money, or for any other consideration, or barter." The penalty for child trafficking is reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua; and if the the child-victim is below 12 years old, the penalty is reclusion perpetua. If the crime is merely an attempt to commit child trafficking, the penalty is 2 degrees lower (prision correccional if consummation of the crime is punishable by reclusion temporal and prision mayor if it's by reclusion perpetua.)

The following are indicators of attempts to commit child trafficking:

1.) A child travelling alone to a foreign country without any valid reason and without a DSWD clearance or  written permit or justification from his parents. This is to be correlated with the Inter-country Adoption Law. Foreign foster parents can't extract a child without a DSWD clearance.

2.) A person, agency, establishment or child-caring institution recruiting women or couples to bear children for child trafficking purposes.

3.) A doctor, hospital or clinic official or employee, nurse, midwife, local civil registrar or any other person simulates a birth for child trafficking purposes.

4.) A person finding children among low-income families, hospitals, clinics, nurseries, day-care centers, or other child-caring institutions who can be offered for child trafficking purposes.