Flor Contemplacion Hanged
Friday, 17th March 1995
Flor R. Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic worker, was executed for murder. Her execution severely strained relations between Singapore and the Philippines and caused many Filipinos to vent their frustration at their own government and the Singaporean government over the helplessness, abuse, and mental stresses that many Filipino overseas workers face around the world.
On May 4, 1991, a Filipino domestic worker named Delia Maga was found strangled to death in Singapore. The four-year-old child that she was taking care of, Nicholas Huang, was discovered drowned. Although Nicholas's father could not identify a suspect, the police learned about Flor Contemplacion through Maga's diary. The police interrogated Contemplacion, who then confessed the crime of murdering Maga and the child. Contemplacion never renounced her confession, and the Philippine embassy in Singapore deemed her confession to be credible. She was then sentenced to death by hanging. However no medical evidence was introduced either by the prosecution or the defence during the trial, in spite of bizarre symptoms experienced on the day of the murders which she described in her confession. On appeal the case was sent back to the same trial judge to allow medical evidence to be heard. The defence then introduced medical evidence claiming that she had been suffering from a partial complex seizure (an unusual form of epilepsy) at the time of the killings, while the prosecution's medical evidence maintained that she was suffering from only mild migraine on that day. The defence's medical evidence was rejected and she was again found guilty and sentenced to death.
Just before her execution, two Filipino witnesses claimed that Huang's father framed Contemplacion for the murders. They alleged that the father killed Maga 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 Maga was not aware. The Singaporean court considered and rejected the testimony. The execution went ahead despite Philippine President Fidel Ramos's personal plea to the Singaporean government to stop it.
Although President Ramos seemed initially resigned to the execution, he called Contemplacion a hero. First Lady Amelita Ramos came to receive the coffin at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. 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. Many Filipinos believed that Contemplacion was innocent, or at least suffering from insanity if she did commit the murders. They blamed the Singaporean government for not being merciful and were resentful with belief that their own government did not do enough to stop the execution. The Philippine Embassy in Singapore in particular came in for strong criticism since it did not even have a consular representative present in court as an observer throughout the trial. The Alex Boncayao Brigade, a Communist terrorist group in the Philippines, threatened to punish Singaporean and Filipino officials. The Catholic Church, which wields considerable influence in the Philippines, condemned the execution. Regardless of her innocence or guilt, others took up Contemplacion as a rallying cry against the allegedly inhumane, abusive, and exploitive working conditions that many Filipino domestic workers and laborers faced abroad.
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 the countries were cancelled.