Flor Contemplacion

Background

Flor R. Contemplacion (January 1953 - March 17, 1995) was a Filipina domestic worker.

The offence

On May 4, 1991, a Filipino domestic worker named Delia Magat was found strangled to death in Singapore. Nicholas Huang, a four-year-old child that Magat was taking care of, was discovered drowned. Flor Contemplacion was convicted by a Singaporean court of killing Delia Magat and Nicholas Huang.

Investigation

The police learned about Flor Contemplacion through Magat's diary. The police interrogated Contemplacion, who then confessed the crime of murdering Magat and the child. Contemplacion never renounced her confession, and the Filipino embassy in Singapore deemed her confession to be credible.

At least two maids came forward during the week prior to the hanging to suggest that the little boy drowned during an epileptic fit in a bathtub and his father killed Mrs. Maga and framed Flor in a fit of rage. One, Virginie Parumog, said in an affidavit that she had shared a cell with Flor and had evidence of her innocence. Parumog’s affidavit said:

"Della immediately phoned her employer about the incident. Her male employer immediately rushed home. Very angry, the employer strangled Della's neck." Then the employer called the police and implicated Flor in the double murder.

A Singaporean Home Affairs Ministry statement said:

"These claims are pure fabrication,"
"The wild and baseless allegations of Virginie Parumog are yet another attempt to stir up controversy over the Flor Contemplacion case, without any regard for the truth." According to the Ministry, Parumog claimed Contemplacion told her that when visiting Della Maga the two maids had discovered Nicholas had drowned. The Ministry said that when the police arrived Contemplacion was not at the house and that she was traced later through entries made in Della Maga's diary. The Ministry also dismissed other claims made by Parumog, including that Flor had undergone electric shock treatment while awaiting trial and had been drugged. The statement said she was given two electro-encephalogram (EEG) tests, one of which was ordered by her own defence psychiatrist, and that she was given medication only for headaches and a sore throat. The Ministry pointed out that Flor had ample opportunity to protest her innocence while in jail and had chosen not to do so.

The Ministry stated:

"During her imprisonment Flor Contemplacion had nine visits by Philippine embassy officials. The government did not receive any representations regarding complaints of ill treatment or claims to Contemplacion's innocence," and: "Are we to believe that if Flor Contemplacion felt that she was innocent she would chose to say so only to a prostitute in prison," and: The Ministry also said that it was not the boy's father who phoned police, it was the mother.

Trial

Contemplacion was sentenced to death by hanging.

Just before her execution, two Filipino witnesses claimed that Huang's father framed Contemplacion for the murders. They alleged that the father killed Magat in rage after finding his son to have accidentally drowned. The son was an epileptic who was alleged to have an attack while in the bath tub of which Magat was not aware. The Singaporean court considered and rejected the testimony.

Sentencing

Appeals

Philippine President Fidel Ramos personally asked Singapore to postpone the execution until new evidence and testimony from another Filipino maid had been evaluated. The Singapore government said it "carefully investigated this new evidence and found it to be untrue." Therefore, Singaporean President Ong Teng Cheong found there was no basis to justify a stay of execution.

The Philippine government requested a stay of execution, and Solicitor-General Raul Goco wrote a letter asking for the stay to put doubts to rest before the case came to a final conclusion. Goco urged Singapore to defer the hanging on humanitarian considerations. The Home Ministry position included that Parumog’s allegations were fabrication.

Arrest

After the execution, the record stated that Parumog had been arrested in Singapore on June 25, 1992 and had signed a statement that she had come to the island republic for prostitution and "was charging Singaporeans $100 ($70) per sexual entertainment."

Outcome

Flor Contemplacion was executed by hanging on March 17, 1995.

She was hanged before dawn on Friday 17th March 1995 together with three male drug traffickers amidst scenes of unusually tight security. Eight policemen, including two armed with machine guns and wearing flak jackets, stood outside the prison gates with two dogs. Police cars and motorcycles patrolled the street continuously, apparently to deter protests by the estimated 75,000 Filipinos working in Singapore.

Flor had said, on the eve of her execution, that she was ready to die after final pleas for clemency and a new trial had been rejected.

Aftermath

After the execution, Flor Contemplacion's body was released and flown back to Manila. It was greeted by President Ramos's wife, Amelita, at the airport. The President sent a wreath to Contemplacion's funeral and offered financial assistance to Contemplacion's children who were dependent on their mother's income from her work as a domestic worker.

President Ramos was initially resigned to the execution but called Contemplacion a hero. Amelita came to receive the coffin at Manila's airport. Mourners waved white handkerchiefs and others clenched their fists and carried placards saying "Justice for Flor Contemplacion" as her funeral cortege passed through Manila's streets. Thousands jammed into the small town of San Pablo where she had lived to pay their last respects. More than 5,000 town residents and supporters from Manila and nearby areas flocked round her one-room house to try to catch a glimpse of her body in its open white coffin. Roman Catholic Bishop Teodoro Bacani held a requiem mass in the town's crowded cathedral for her, where he told the congregation:

"She is a symbol of millions of Filipinos driven by poverty to take their chances abroad," and: "Their lot is pathetic. Their own government neglects them," evoking applause.

President Ramos set up an inquiry into the case and ordered the exhumation of Delia Maga's remains to determine how she died. Delia Maga's former husband complained that he and the family had never seen the autopsy report. Conrado Maga said his wife's body bore bruises on the shoulder, neck and face. Philippine detective Maximo Reyes said in a radio interview:

"We will try to determine if these are still present and if these could have been caused by a female," He said doctors might rely on bone findings since the remains have been buried for four years, and: "Doctors can tell in bone findings if there are fractures or cracks. That means it is not possible for a woman to have done that. It could have been someone stronger," Reyes said he would initially examine the corpse.

This new inquiry was described as seeming to conclude that the Singaporeans were right and that Flor Contemplacion probably was guilty, although many in the Philippines would never accept its findings. Relations between Singapore and the Philippines slowly got back to normal.

A dispute in the period around her execution included that Flor’s husband Efren did not visit her because, "I could not bear to see her and not be able to touch her or embrace her after seven years". The Philippine Foreign Secretary said Flor thanked Filipinos for their efforts in trying to save her and said that if the stay of execution would only delay the carrying out of her sentence, she preferred an early end to everyone's suffering.

Flor was visited in Changi prison daily by her children: a 21-year-old son, a 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old twin boys who had last seen their mother in 1989. She was informed of the date and time of the hanging on the Tuesday before the execution, as customary in Singapore, and was described as taking the news calmly. "She was resigned to her fate and she tried to be strong and told the children to be strong and love one another".

After the execution, the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a Communist terrorist group in the Philippines, threatened to punish Singaporean and Filipino officials. The Catholic Church condemned the execution. A movie called The Flor Contemplacion Story was made in the Philippines, and the film won Best Picture in the Cairo Film Festival.

Relations between Singapore and the Philippines chilled for several years after the execution. To counter domestic backlash, President Ramos recalled the Filipino ambassador to Singapore and many bilateral exchanges between both countries were cancelled.

As of March 9, 2011, Flor's three children, Sandrex, Joel and Jun Jun, were sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of 500,000 pesos each for selling illegal drugs. Flor's husband Efren and his live-in partner Violeta remained in jail as they were arrested for drug pushing in 2008.

Timeline

• January 1953 — Flor R. Contemplacion was born.
• May 4, 1991 — Delia Magat was found strangled to death in Singapore; Nicholas Huang was discovered drowned.
• June 25, 1992 — Virginie Parumog was arrested in Singapore.
• March 17, 1995 — Flor Contemplacion was executed by hanging.
• March 9, 2011 — Sandrex, Joel and Jun Jun were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined 500,000 pesos each for selling illegal drugs; Efren and Violeta remained in jail after arrest for drug pushing in 2008.

Other details

Contemplacion was described as a 42-year-old Filipina maid at the time of execution. She had originally confessed to the murders. It was later claimed that she made the confession under duress and that it was also claimed she was of doubtful sanity at the time they were committed. The record also described diplomatic wrangling between Singapore and the Philippines and protests outside the Singapore Embassy in Manila.

It was stated that the estimated 75,000 Filipinos working in Singapore might protest, leading to unusually tight security. The Roman Catholic Church called Singapore a state without mercy. Leftist and feminist groups, human rights activists and the media denounced Singapore as a barbaric, tyrannical and totalitarian state with no respect for human rights. The Alex Boncayao Brigade threatened to punish Singaporean and Filipino officials.

A rather similar case involving Sarah Balabagan was noted as arising only a few months later in the United Arab Emirates, though Balabagan was not ultimately executed.

The record also stated that President Ramos recalled the Filipino ambassador to Singapore and that many bilateral exchanges between both countries were cancelled.