Abortion clinic raided

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided last Thursday a Quezon City abortion clinic that has been flushing aborted fetuses down its toilet and arrested three of its midwives and a nurse but failed to arrest its resident doctor.

The NBI could not immediately provide details on how many babies have actually been flushed into the septic tank of the clinic at 16 18th Avenue in Cubao but found one newly-aborted baby on the toilet bowl ready to be sent down. The baby’s mother was still in one of the clinic’s beds when the NBI agents under the Special Task Force came.

Those arrested were identified as Jenny Demotica, 32, Elma Escuetas, 40, Gloria Agustin, 58, all claiming to be registered midwives and Susan Espino, 33, a registered nurse. The patient was identified as Donalyn Santiago, 24, who is now in a hospital for massive bleeding.

The resident doctor of the clinic identified as Amelia Maranon was not around when the NBI came and is the subject of manhunt operations.

Based on NBI-STF Max Salvador’s report to NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco, the raid was conducted after they received information on the criminal activity of the clinic. An undercover operation using a pregnant lady agent confirmed the abortion activities after one midwife agreed to perform an abortion on the NBI agent in exchange for P30,000. The undercover agent was asked to return when she had enough money.

Using an arrest warrant issued by a Manila judge, the NBI pounced on the clinic as soon as suspect Escuetas accepted the marked money. – Jose Aravilla