Fetus found in Malacañang restroom

A janitor found a fetus yesterday morning in one of the restrooms at the New Executive Building (NEB) in Malacañang, horrifying Palace employees and puzzling police as to the identity of the mother, officials said.

The fetus, believed to be four to six months old, was discovered by janitor Mark Maningas, 18, at around 8 a.m. while cleaning the third cubicle of the women’s restroom.

Maningas said he noticed a blue plastic bag stuck in the toilet bowl with feces and some drops of blood on the seat. When he tried to retrieve the object, he was surprised that blood came out and saw a baby’s head.

 He immediately informed his supervisor, who informed a guard from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) manning the building. The security personnel immediately cordoned off the restroom and called for investigators from the PSG and the Manila Police District (MPD).

After a few minutes, PSG personnel retrieved the fetus. Before noon, MPD investigators arrived and inspected the restroom. Investigators also sent Maningas home to avoid being interviewed by journalists. Employees in the building lit white candles at the door of the rest room.

“The sight of the fetus was both horrifying and pitiful. It made me sick to the stomach,” Arsenio Santos, a long-time Palace employee and witness, said in Filipino.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, whose office is at the third floor of the building, expressed sadness over the incident.

“We hold every human life sacred. We pray for the soul of this innocent child and hope that whoever was responsible for this, realizes the gravity of this deed and seek atonement,” Bunye said.

PSG chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza said the matter was still under investigation.

“The investigators are still trying to determine the identity of a woman reportedly seen hurriedly leaving the restroom,” Prestoza said in a telephone interview.

Officials said investigators are also reviewing footages taken by closed-circuit television cameras around and inside the NEB to help in the investigation. The NEB is about 200 meters away from the Palace.

Employees working at NEB said word has been sent that employees who reported for work from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. would be questioned.

Among the offices located in the NEB are the Malacañang Press Corps, Presidential Photojournalists Association, Malacañang Cameramen Association, Presidential Adviser on Religious Affairs, Office of the Press Secretary, Presidential Appointments Office, Presidential Chief Legal Counsel at Presidential Management Staff-Search Committee.

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines, in line with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. Still, officials estimate that about 400,000 abortions are performed each year.

Meanwhile, if a Parañaque congressman has his way, the incident in Malacañang would not happen again.

Rep. Eduardo Zialcita has filed a bill seeking to discourage abortion and child abuse by allowing parents to give up their babies to the government without fear of arrest or prosecution.

House Bill 3227, known as the Safe Haven Act of 2007, seeks to permit parents to entrust custody and care of their babies – provided they are 60 days old or younger – to any hospital, medical emergency facility, police or fire station, or any office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Private institutions receiving the babies would turn them over to DSWD offices. Parents would have six months to reclaim custody of their babies. After that, the children would be available for adoption.

Zialcita said he filed the measure to address the “moral degeneration of society as a result of the tragedies caused by abortion, child abuse, neglect and other forms of anti-life and anti-child acts.”

“There is an increase in abortion, child abandonment and other kinds of anti-life consequences because of our eroding respect for the sanctity of marriage, and complications in family life and human sexuality brought about by the globalization of culture,” he said.

Zialcita said his proposal “would save the lives, health and future of innocent babies and children.”

Under his bill, the government would establish a national registry of infants to improve its response to cases of missing children. – With Jess Diaz, AP