Manama: Airport officials and social workers have continued their investigation of identifying the woman who gave birth to a baby boy that was found abandoned in a garbage bin inside a Gulf Air plane that arrived at Pasay City's international airport on Sunday, according to radio reports.
However, a source told Gulf News that the suspected mother of the baby boy named George Francis was already identified.
This was done after airport officials tracked down the names of the passengers on the two seats of Gulf Air's flight 154, that were smeared with blood and excrement, said the source who requested for anonymity.
Officials of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) also looked at other evidence. "Citing information from Gulf Air, NAIA officials said blood spots were found on seat number 40-D. A woman, who was travelling alone, was on this seat in the airline's flight from Bahrain. She was the 80th passenger on the flight," ABS-CBN reported on Monday.
Authorities think that the evidence may point the fact that the woman was pregnant or had recently given birth.
Officials of NAIA Terminal 1 said she left the plane immediately after landing.
The Aviation Security Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has started investigating the incident and authorities are now reviewing the CCTV camera recordings and the flight manifest.
The child, who airport medical staff have called "George Francis" because of Gulf Air's code ‘GF’, is currently under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Delia Bawan, assistant regional director for administration of DSWD-National Capital Region, explained that the mother on board the Manila-bound Gulf Air flight has three months to claim her newborn baby.
"The mother should be able to claim her child within three months as provided by law," Bawan said in an interview at ANC's Dateline Philippines on Monday.
DSWD-National Capital Region (NCR) Social Welfare Officer 5, Teresita Valentino, said they would try to locate the boy’s family.
“Relatives of the baby may come to DSWD-NCR if they would like to reclaim him. But if nobody would claim him after three months, we will be filing for the issuance of DSWD certificate declaring that baby is legally free for adoption,” she was quoted in the Manila Bulletin as saying.
Officials at the Reception and Study Centre for children, a division of the department of social welfare and development in suburban Quezon City said that if the parents of the boy will not be located, only then the office will consider the boy as available for adoption.
It is a process that the government will undertake before it can offer the abandoned child for adoption, the official added.
Earlier, Lanie Tabios of the department of social welfare and development said once the woman is identified then the relatives of the boy will be convinced to take the boy under their care.
Meanwhile, authorities are also looking into reports that the mother of the baby boy might not be a passenger of the plane.
Earlier, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said the suspected mother could be criminally charged.
