A newborn girl allegedly believed to have been dead by her parents was rescued after being dumped in a landfill site in the Philippines.

The infant was placed inside a sack and abandoned at the garbage dump in Liloan, Cebu when she was found by a child scavenging the area for junk on Monday, June 12. She was wrapped in a bloody white cloth and still had the umbilical cord attached to her belly.

The shocked youngster ran home to inform the police about the discovery while residents looked after the foundling.

Police officers in the Liloan district arrived to retrieve the baby before turning her over to the local social welfare office. They conducted investigations and detained the girl's parents Vilma Jemes Sayre, 36, and Raul Taritas, 38, who were found living nearby.

Police Master Sergeant Girlie Echaluce, chief of the Liloan Women and Children's Police Desk, said: 'It was their neighbour who reported the parents. The neighbours were curious why the mum's belly suddenly became smaller when she had been pregnant for months. And then the news spread about the abandoned child.'

Vilma allegedly admitted to giving birth to the child shortly after sunrise on June 12. She said she thought her daughter was stillborn because she wasn't crying, so she asked her partner Raul to take it to the health centre before he allegedly abandoned the infant at the local rubbish dump instead.

The mother claimed that she often fought with Raul since she became pregnant and blamed him for the alleged crime.

The mother-of-six, who worked as a masseuse to make ends meet, said: 'I couldn't afford to have a pre-natal checkup. My partner also threatened me not to go to the doctors because he thinks the child isn't his. He underwent a vasectomy after our fifth child.

'Charges should be filed against him, but I hope the police spare me because I still have to take care of my children.'

Local media reported that three of the couple's six children are currently under their grandparents' care.

Meanwhile, Raul has vehemently denied Vilma's claims, saying: 'I did not throw away the baby. I was busy working and collecting wood. Where did she even give birth? She didn't deliver the child at our house.'

Police Major Eric Gingoyon, chief of Liloan Police Station, said: 'The suspects will be facing cases of frustrated infanticide. The newborn is being monitored at the Liloan Rural Health Unit. It will be turned over to the Social Welfare Department 7 when its condition improves.'