Nicola de Vera

Adopt, Don’t Shop

Jennylyn was exhausted and strapped for cash. She didn’t think she could care for another one. If she had any interest in selling, she learned from her chatty, well-connected neighbor that there was an underground market for it, with many wealthy buyers, and that her neighbor could put Jennylyn in touch with her seller contact in case she wanted to explore that option.

Jennylyn was not one to engage in illegal activities. In fact, she had seriously considered the legal way of putting it up for adoption, but only heard negative sentiments about the process. It was too slow, cumbersome, and full of bureaucracy—Jennylyn didn’t have the luxury of time or money. So, she asked for the contact information of the seller and reached out to him, providing all the requested details and photos to start the sales process.

“This one’s going to be scooped up fast,” the seller assured Jennylyn. He was confident about this sale in particular because buyers often preferred the mixed ones. The seller explained to her that he can sell it for as high as 75,000 Philippine pesos and not lower than 60,000, but a 25% commission always went to the seller. Jennylyn understood and agreed to the terms.

* * *

In a private, encrypted chat group, the seller, who went by the pseudonym StorkM@ster, posted about his latest commodity, with ten accompanying images. “Offer #49. Male, 8 months old, mixed, in good health, no defects. Currently available. PM for details,” the post read. Within minutes, he received his first inquiry.

The prospective buyer asked, “How much?”

“75k pesos. 50% non-refundable down payment to be paid ASAP. Remaining balance to be paid upon claiming of order,” the seller replied with a copy-pasted script from most of his transactions.

“That’s too high. Are you open to 50k?”

“No. You are inquiring about a mixed commodity. There’s a premium to the pricing.”

“How about 60k?”

“No deal. It’s 75k.”

“65k?”

“The lowest I’ll go is 72k pesos,” the seller insisted, having a wealth of experience in these negotiation tactics.

“What if we go with 68k, plus I’ll also take care of the transportation and food costs of your client when we meet up for the transaction?”

“Interesting offer. Let me check with my client.”

The seller sent a message to Jennylyn privately about the interested buyer’s negotiated offer, but for Jennylyn, every single peso mattered. She held firm—70k or bust.

“My client won’t accept anything below 70k. Final offer,” the seller resumed the conversation with the prospective buyer.

There was a brief pause in the chat. The seller waited a few minutes before hearing back from the buyer.

“Fine, I’ll take him at 70k. Please reserve him for me.”

“We can only consider the reservation final once the down payment is made.”

“Okay then please send your payment details so I can transfer the money right away.”

* * *

Jennylyn sat behind the small window of her quaint sari-sari store, nursing her fourth child, when she received the confirmation message from the seller.

“Sold,” the seller said, getting right to the point.

“70k?” Jennylyn asked.

“Yes. Meetup is scheduled this Saturday in Manila. Location TBD. I will update you again tomorrow.”

Jennylyn called the city of Subic home. Traveling from Subic to Manila would take at least two and a half hours, but she had already anticipated this trip, knowing that prospective buyers were well-off and likely to be based in the country’s capital.

“Thank you, sir,” Jennylyn replied.

Was it possible to feel relief and remorse at the same time? Jennylyn wondered as she turned her attention back to her son, whose glistening eyes stared back at her.

Eight months ago, after her son was born, and the baby had been washed and cleaned up, it had been apparent that the biological father was not Jennylyn’s husband. With fair skin, light brown hair, and hazel eyes, this baby was clearly half-white. In contrast, her husband had black hair, black eyes, and a darker complexion. Jennylyn realized only then that she had been accidentally impregnated by one of dozens of Americans stationed in the US Navy’s base in the Philippines, men that she had been intimate with as a sex worker in Subic’s red light district.

Furious by her betrayal, Jennylyn’s husband left her and their children to fend for themselves soon after the fourth child was born. Jennylyn could no longer rely on the steady income from her husband’s job as a security guard anymore. Working two jobs as a small business owner by day and a sex worker by night was not enough to pay the bills. Drowning in debt, she was barely able to cover her children’s daily needs, let alone any emergency expenses that came up.

Jennylyn knew that she couldn’t afford to care for one more child without sacrificing costs of living for her three other children. Putting her youngest son up for adoption through the traditional, legal process had been her first choice. However, she made the agonizing decision to sell her mixed-race baby instead—with a non-negotiable condition that the baby be sold only to prospective adoptive parents that could give her son a better life. It was her son’s only path to survival. It was her only path to survival.

The water in her eyes started to thicken, as Jennylyn looked at her son, kissed him on the head, and whispered, “I’m so sorry, boy.”

Her son let out a giggle and reached for her face. When he touched her cheek, his tiny fingers brushing against her tears, he uttered his first word. “Mama.”