Fetus found in plane from ME

MANILA, Philippines - A fetus was found in the lavatory of an Etihad Airways plane that arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 1 from Abu Dhabi Monday night.

Aircraft cleaner Randy Ondo discovered the fetus wrapped in tissue paper in the trash bin of the lavatory during routine cleaning after the flight. 

Airport doctor Alexander Gungad said the fetus, a boy, was about five to six months. Airport authorities turned it over to the police for proper disposal and investigation of the mother’s identity and motive for abandonment of the fetus.

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines and the mother could face charges if she terminated the pregnancy.

Last September, a returning Filipino worker abandoned her baby after giving birth in the bathroom of a Gulf Air plane. The child, named George Francis, was temporarily placed under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The mother later claimed she was raped by her employer.

The child and the mother are still under DSWD custody.

On Friday, the psychiatrist attending to the mother will submit a recommendation if they will be allowed to go home.          

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed an abandonment case against the mother of George Francis. “The case is still ongoing but we provided her a lawyer and our contention is she is a victim,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said.

Worried by the increasing incidents of Filipino workers abandoning their babies in planes, Soliman has decided to deploy two more social welfare attachés to the Middle East this year.   Soliman said depressed Filipino workers need social workers to provide counseling and prevent them from making wrong decisions.

“The likelihood of doing such thing is much less when there are people who will talk to them and help them understand that they are victims,” Soliman told The STAR in a phone interview.

The DSWD has already stationed social welfare attachés in Malaysia and Jordan. The department is working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to determine the countries where social welfare attachés may be deployed.

Soliman said the department is also intensifying its information campaign on migrant workers’ rights, particularly for women working overseas.

“We are intensifying our campaign in informing our migrant workers about their rights and welfare…that they are more likely to be victimized in the societies where women are seen as slaves,” she said. – With Helen Flores