Report: Woman from Cebu gives birth at NAIA

A passenger gave birth at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport shortly before she was to take an international flight before dawn Tuesday. Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado in a telephone interview on Unang Balita Tuesday morning said that around 9:45 p.m. Monday, a female maintenance personnel found Maria Campana in the female restroom shortly after giving birth to a baby girl. Airport authorities were alerted and a medical team rushed to administer first aid to the mother and child, as well as to cut the umbilical cord. As of late last night, Campana and her child were reported to be in stable condition at the airport clinic, even as airport staff were trying to contact the woman's relatives. Asked if the airport administration is prepared for such unexpected deliveries, Honrado said he was confident the NAIA medical staff is capable. "They can take care of the situation," said Honrado. An earlier report on radio dwIZ said Campana, from Carcar in Cebu, gave birth to a 3.6-kilo baby at the NAIA Terminal 1's comfort room. Sketchy initial reports showed the female maintenance personnel approached the cubicle occupied by Campana after wondering what took the occupant so long inside. When she peeked closer at the cubicle, she saw blood on the floor. The maintenance worker opened the cubicle door and found Campana in pain. She then alerted personnel of the NAIA medical clinic. The baby was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, while the maintenance personnel was brought to the Pasay City police to give her statement. Airport records showed Campana arrived at the NAIA-1 after alighting from a Cebu Pacific flight, and was to take a China Airlines flight to Taiwan early Tuesday. She was still sleeping in the MIAA medical clinic as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, the report said. The incident came two months after an overseas Filipino worker abandoned her newborn baby boy inside a Gulf Air flight last September 12. She was eventually reunited with her child but has yet to be allowed to bring him home. — with Carmela Lapeña/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV