ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 1, 2014) – A young woman who gave birth to a baby has abandoned her child in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines to hide her unwanted pregnancy from her family, police said Tuesday.
Police said the baby was recovered alive by the tricycle driver that Janine Marie Quinquinto, 19, hired to bring her to a vacant lot in the village of Canelar where she left the baby.
The infant was recovered after the driver noticed the woman returned alone and told him to bring her to the boarding house where she was staying. The driver told police that he went back to the village and rushed to the area where the woman left the baby and recovered the poor infant.
The driver, whose identity was not made public by the police, then hurriedly went to village officials to say what had happened and handed over the baby to them. The child was rushed to the hospital while policemen went to the woman’s boarding house and found her there bleeding profusely and with fever and also rushed her to the same hospital.
The woman said she gave birth in her room and decided to throw the baby to hide everything from her parents who were not even aware of her unwanted pregnancy. It was unknown who the child’s father was or whether he had been told about what had happened to both the woman and the baby.
Police are investigating the case, but the woman is likely to face charges for abandoning the baby and putting the child’s life in grave danger. Police did not say whether the woman is a student or not. (Mindanao Examiner)
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