OFW admits giving birth to ‘Gulf Air’ baby

The woman who was picked up in Apayao province has admitted to being the mother of the newborn infant found in an airplane trash bin last week, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Thursday. “Umamin naman sya. Pinakita niya yung picture (ng bata), kaya right now, very eager siya to see her baby," NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula said in an interview aired over GMA News’ “24 Oras." The report, however, said authorities are still awaiting the results of the DNA tests conducted using the saliva the woman and the baby to verify if she is the child’s biological mother. The woman, an overseas Filipino worker from Qatar, cried throughout the NBI interrogation and was “in a state of trauma," Gatdula said. The woman was brought to Manila Wednesday night for interrogation after she was picked up in Apayao. The manifest of Gulf Air flight GF-154, which landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from Bahrain last Sunday, led authorities to her whereabouts. Authorities said they checked the flight manifest after seeing droplets of blood in seat 40-D. The NBI also took DNA samples from the bloodstains found on the seat to see if it matches the woman's or the baby's.

Gatdula said the woman told them that she used an abdominal binder to conceal her pregnancy from airport authorities who might prevent her from boarding the flight. He said the woman told them during the interrogation that she was not expecting to give birth inside the plane, so she left the baby in the trash bin inside the plane’s comfort room out of fear and confusion. “Natakot na siya (she was terrified)," he said. Gatdula likewise said the woman, who underwent counseling and psychological examinations before the interrogations, had apologized for leaving her child. Commission on Human Rights (CHR) commissioner Maria Victoria Cardona said they would look into the incident although she expressed hope that the case will be settled. “Sana ma-resolve ito into something positive para sa lahat, sana ma-settle pa rin ito para sa lahat ng parties (I hope this will be resolved and settled by the parties involved)," she said. Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado visited the woman but refused to discuss the case with the media. The woman and the child, named George Francis by airport authorities, will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Friday, Gatdula said. - KBK, GMANews.TV