Focus on issues that led to binning of newborn

Manila: A lawmaker has called on the government to address the fundamental issues that led to a Filipina migrant worker abandoning her child in an aircraft lavatory bin last Sunday.

Representative Irwin Tieng, of the Buhay (life) party-list, expressed alarm over the number of women who had an unwanted pregnancies while working overseas. He claimed that some women were forced to abort their pregnancy for fear of being maligned by their families and society if they returned home with a child.

A cleaner found a newborn wrapped in tissue paper in a Gulf Air aircraft which landed in Manila from Bahrain last Sunday. The child has since been handed over to the custody of the government.

A few days later, the National Bureau of Investigation was able to trace a passenger of the Gulf Air flight who later admitted giving birth on board the aircraft. Authorities are awaiting results of DNA tests to validate her claim.

Unfortunate realities

Tieng said while the woman who abandoned the child deserves to be censured, society should not be so quick to judge her as little was known about the woman's circumstances. "I too condemn the action of the mother, but we should also look into the unfortunate realities behind the problem because the baby's mother may just be a victim of the country's unfortunate state of affairs," said Tieng

There was speculation that the woman, who worked as a domestic helper in Qatar, was a victim of human trafficking and had been raped.