Flor Contemplacion

Flor Ramos Contemplacion (7 January 1953 – 17 March 1995) was a Filipina domestic worker who was executed in Singapore after being convicted of murdering a fellow Filipina maid and the four-year-old boy whom she was babysitting. At the time, her case as well as her eventual sentencing severely strained diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore.

Biography

Flor Contemplacion was born in San Pablo in Laguna province of Luzon, and was the second youngest of ten children. Her father died when she was 7 years old, and due to the increased financial pressure on her rural family she moved to Manila to live with an elder sister when she was 10 years old. Contemplacion dropped out of school aged 12 and soon after began working as a housemaid. Contemplacion got married in 1972 when she was 19 years old and eventually had four children. Her husband walked out on the family in 1987, leaving Contemplacion as the sole breadwinner.

Background to arrest

On 4 May 1991, Della M. Maga (born on 6 October 1955, in Tarlac), a 35-year-old Filipino migrant domestic worker, was found strangled to death in a five-bedroom apartment on the ninth floor of HDB Block 147 on Gangsa Road in Bukit Panjang. A four-year-old boy, Nicholas Huang Haoren Wong, whom Maga had been taking care of, was discovered lying next to her having been drowned in a bucket of water. The victims' bodies were discovered by Huang's parents, who had employed Maga for the previous 4 years, after they had arrived home to their apartment shortly after 1pm. Their two-year-old daughter was located unharmed in Maga's locked bedroom.

Singaporean police investigating the crime scene found no signs of a struggle or any ransacking of the flat, which, combined with the fact the front door grille was locked when the owners returned home, suggested that Maga knew her killer and granted them entry to the apartment. Interviews with neighbor Lucrecia Galuga revealed that she last saw Maga and the two children alive at 10am, and Maga had mentioned that a friend was due to visit her later on that morning. Detectives then began to identify, locate and question all of Maga's known associates in Singapore.

At around 7pm, police arrested 38-year-old Filipino citizen Flor Ramos Contemplacion at HDB Block 633 on Veerasamy Road in Kallang, after eliminating all other suspects from their enquiries. Contemplacion was found in possession of luxury items (seven watches, a Konica Minolta brand camera and a pearl necklace) that were believed to have been stolen from Maga. Investigations revealed that Contemplacion had visited Maga at the apartment in Bukit Panjang several times before and had met Nicholas Huang on those occasions. This fact raised the possibility that Contemplacion killed Huang and Maga to prevent her being identified, however the life of the two-year-old girl was spared as she was unable to speak due to her young age.

During her interrogation by the police, Contemplacion claimed to have left her employer's house on Cardiff Road the previous morning to deliver a package to her niece at Don Long Mansion in Katong, but she was not at home when Contemplacion arrived. However, when the police contacted the owner of the apartment to check Contemplacion's alibi he denied she had visited the property. On the afternoon of 6 May 1991, Contemplacion finally confessed to killing both victims and gave two statements to police via a Tagalog interpreter. That evening, investigating officers brought Contemplacion and the interpreter to the crime scene on Gangsa Road, where she described to the detectives how she was admitted to the apartment by Maga and what happened inside on the day of the murders.

Trial

On 26 January 1993, Contemplacion's trial began in the High Court of Singapore before Justice T. S. Sinnathuray. In her opening speech, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kamala Ponnampalam described how the victim's dead bodies were discovered by Huang's parents, who after failing to resuscitate Nicholas then called the police. Investigating officers examined Maga's personal diary and discovered the name and address of Flor Contemplacion, who was then located and questioned. Testimony by forensic pathologist Doctor Wee Keng Poh revealed that Maga died from asphyxia due to strangulation and Huang's death had been caused by drowning. According to the expert witness, another person had used an elastic cord wound around Maga's neck to apply moderate force for approximately 5 minutes, while the immersion of a young child's face in water for a similar time would cause them to drown.

Contemplacion's lawyer Ng Wing Cheong challenged the admissibility of five statements she gave to police after her arrest, asserting that they were made under duress while she was fatigued after hours of intensive questioning by detectives. During cross examination, Contemplacion claimed police used a picture of the Virgin Mary to frighten her into incriminating herself, as being a Catholic her belief was sinners would not go to Heaven. Contemplacion also claimed she was not informed of her right to have a lawyer present prior to giving the statements, and that detectives shouted and screamed at her that she would be hanged if she did not tell the truth.

However, Contemplacion conceded to the prosecutor that all statements were made voluntarily without any threat, inducement or promise being made before or during the recording of the statements by Tagalog interpreter Aurora Navarro (who was provided by the Philippine Embassy in Singapore) or herself. DPP Ponnampalam countered there was no evidence the Special Investigations Section had such a picture in their office, and that the police officers who interrogated Contemplacion confirmed that no pictures were shown to her during her questioning. Justice Sinnathuray therefore ruled all five statements were given voluntarily and could be admitted as evidence. However, Maga refused to take the package with her, saying it was too heavy to bring on the airplane. Justice T.S Sinnathuray remarked that he was "satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt" that the prosecution had proved their case against her. When the death sentence was announced, Contemplacion broke down into tears and was so distraught she had to be supported by two prison officers as she was led from the dock.

Retrial

On 25 April 1994, Justice T. S. Sinnathuray heard arguments in the High Court regarding Contemplacion's appeal. Taking the stand to give evidence in her own defence, Contemplacion claimed to have suffered from seizures from an early age, which gave her bouts of headaches and uncontrollable shaking. She also claimed that on the day of the murders a mysterious "voice" instructed her to visit Maga at the Bukit Panjang apartment. Contemplacion testified that on the way to the apartment she began to feel strange and started trembling all over. When she got there Maga appeared to be half her normal size and then looked like she was "shrinking". Contemplacion suddenly realised she was gripping an elastic cord that was wrapped around Maga's neck and ran into the bathroom to vomit. There she saw a young boy playing with water and he looked "like a small cat" to her. Contemplacion claimed she could not control herself, and she picked up the child then submerged his head in the bucket of water. Contemplacion asserted that she was suffering from severe psychiatric issues at the time of the killings, and was not guilty of murder but was admitting to manslaughter.

Testimony from Doctor Terence Burke asserted that Contemplacion suffered from a form of epilepsy known as a partial complex seizure, which was a mental illness that significantly impaired her responsibility for her actions on the day in question. Doctor Burke also testified that her low IQ and lack of education meant it was highly unlikely that Contemplacion would have been able to fabricate the symptoms of epilepsy. ruling that she did not suffer from any serious mental illness at the time of the double homicide, that she only displayed symptoms of a mild migraine, and that she had consciously and deliberately murdered both victims.

Justice Sinnathuray also highlighted that both Doctors Burke and Chan Khim Yew had agreed that a person suffering a partial complex seizure would have no recollection of the events that occurred during the episode, where as Contemplacion had given a vivid and detailed step by step account of what happened in Della's flat on the day of the murders, therefore her testimony satisfied him beyond reasonable doubt that she did not suffer from partial complex seizure at that time. The judge likewise dismissed claims that Contemplacion was unintelligent, as having witnessed her nimble performance during cross examination over several days he considered her a wilful and cunning person.

Petition for clemency

On 21 January 1995, Contemplacion's lawyer submitted an official petition for clemency to Singaporean President Ong Teng Cheong, however acting on the advice of the Cabinet of Singapore, Ong turned down the petition in early February 1995.

President Ramos' intervention

In what was a landmark intervention, Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos wrote to President Ong twice to appeal on behalf of Contemplacion, first in early January 1995 requesting Contemplacion's death sentence to be commuted on humanitarian grounds and finally six days before her execution requesting a delay to evaluate purported new exculpatory evidence which had surfaced. Ong turned down the initial request as Singaporean authorities could see no special circumstances to justify clemency being granted. The last minute appeal for a stay of execution was also dismissed by Ong as the new "evidence" was examined by the police and found to be without merit. Contemplacion's family arrived in Singapore on the 1st March 1995 and had daily visits with her. Although they knew her sentence was about to be carried out and this would be the last time they would see her alive, they kept it secret from her on the advice of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. However, in mid-March, despite prison policy of censoring newspapers given to condemned inmates of articles regarding their execution by cutting out the entire article, Contemplacion was accidentally handed an uncensored paper that had a story about a Filipina inmate being executed in a few days time, which upset her greatly. The family were not allowed to have physical contact with Contemplacion during any of their visits, and could only communicate via an intercom phone while she sat on the other side of a bullet proof glass screen, with the final visit taking place on 16 March 1995 (the day before she was put to death).

Allegations against Huang's father

In the days leading up to Contemplacion's execution, Filipina maid Emilia Frenilla, who had previously worked for Huang's uncle, submitted a sworn statement to the Singaporean Embassy in Manila, claiming:

Nicholas Huang suffered from epilepsy
Della Maga was murdered by Huang's father in a fit of rage when he discovered Huang had accidentally drowned after having a seizure and falling into a bucket of water
Frenilla overheard Huang's father and uncle discussing how he framed Contemplacion for the deaths
Huang's father and uncle spoke in a mixture of Malay and English, languages Frenilla was fluent in after previously working in Kota Kinabalu

However, after an investigation Singaporean authorities disregarded the new evidence, citing factual errors such as:

Nicholas Huang's family doctor confirmed the boy had never been diagnosed with epilepsy
Huang's father did not name Contemplacion in any statements he made to the police and she was only identified as a suspect after the police themselves had found her details in Maga's personal diary
Huang's father and uncle do not speak Malay, and only converse with each other in Chinese (Hakka and/or Mandarin)

Also, the fact that after her arrest Contemplacion revealed to police the location of luxury items she had stolen from Maga provided strong circumstantial evidence that she was linked to the murders.

Allegations of mistreatment while in custody

Shortly after midnight on the morning of the scheduled execution, Filipina citizen Virginia Custodio Parumog, who in 1992 had shared a prison cell with Contemplacion in Changi Prison while serving a custodial sentence for prostitution, returned to Singapore via commercial airline and then attempted to submit an affidavit to Singaporean authorities at Tanglin Police Division headquarters containing claims such as:

Contemplacion had told her that when she arrived at the apartment in Bukit Panjang for a visit Nicolas was already dead, Maga then phoned Huang's father who rushed home and strangled her to death in anger, and when the police arrived they arrested Contemplacion on the orders of Huang's father
Contemplacion did not give any statements to police after her arrest and strenuously denied all charges regarding the double murder she was accused of
Contemplacion was twice forced to undergo electric shock therapy against her will while on remand
Contemplacion was handcuffed to a bedframe in the Changi Prison hospital psychiatric ward for over a month
Contemplacion was forced to take unknown tablets, possibly a tranquilizer, everytime she attended court during her trial
Parumog herself was put into solitary confinement for attempting to smuggle a letter out of prison from Contemplacion to her husband

Shortly afterwards, the Ministry of Home Affairs released a communiqué denying all allegations, stating: Her execution went ahead as scheduled despite a personal plea for clemency from President Ramos to the Singaporean government.

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore in particular was heavily criticised, since it did little to help Contemplacion during the two years she was on remand, apart from delivering food and books to her in prison, and did not even have a consular representative as an observer in court throughout her trial.

However, shortly after Contemplacion's execution the Philippines' former consul general in Singapore Elizabeth Buensuceso said that Contemplacion had disregarded the Embassy's warning not to make any admissions to the police until after she got proper legal representation in place. Buensuceso was also quoted by the Manila Chronicle that Contemplacion rejected their legal advice not to sign any confession after her arrest, saying "she was very furious then and kept shouting that she had committed the crime". It was also revealed that Contemplacion was allowed to have at least nine private consultations with Philippine Embassy officials without Singaporean authorities being present, yet she did not withdraw her original confession or change any aspect of her testimony at any of these meetings.

Although President Ramos seemed initially resigned to the execution, he called Contemplacion a heroine. His wife, First Lady Amelita Ramos, went to receive Contemplacion's coffin at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila on 19 March. Contemplacion's body was carried from the airport to San Pablo, and thousands of Filipinos lined the route. President Ramos sent a wreath to Contemplacion's wake and offered financial assistance to Contemplacion's four children, who were dependent on their mother's income as a domestic worker, pledging one month of his salary to a scholarship fund. In one of the protests, the mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, burned a flag of Singapore while leading 1,000 employees of Davao City in protest.

Several threats against Singaporeans and Singapore properties in the Philippines were reported. Singaporean tourists either shortened or canceled their holiday trips in the Philippines in view of their safety. Skilled Singaporean workers working in the Philippines either left the country or were recalled back to Singapore by their companies.

The Alex Boncayao Brigade, a Filipino assassination unit of the Philippine New People's Army, had threatened to kill Filipino officials and diplomats if they fail to stop Contemplacion's execution. President Ramos recalled the Filipino ambassador to Singapore, and many bilateral exchanges between the countries were cancelled.

The 1995 edition of Anoa-Singa military exercise between the Filipino and Singaporean militaries which was ongoing at that time, abruptly ended when news of Contemplacion's execution occurred, forcing the Singaporean troops to leave the country.

A Presidential Fact Finding Commission was set up in the Philippines to investigate Contemplacion's case and the findings were submitted to President Ramos on 6 April 1995. In a statement by President Ramos, a protective programme was approved to oversee the welfare of overseas Filipinos with the deployment of government staff, lawyers and doctors to various countries.

The first autopsy done by Singaporean pathologists concluded that Maga died of asphyxia due to strangulation which was disputed by the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation experts. A final autopsy was conducted in July by an independent panel, whose results would be final, and both governments required to accept the findings. If the findings determined that Maga did not die of asphyxia, the Singapore government will reopen Contemplacion's case and re-investigate the deaths of Maga and Huang. Philippines and Singapore began to reconcile their bilateral relations. The finished report recommended that the case be reopened, after gathering new testimony, in addition to earlier claims made by Parumog and Frenilla, such as:

claims by Lucena Songalia Sarceno, who was serving a 16-month custodial sentence for extortion in Changi Women's Prison at the same time as Contemplacion was incarcerated there, that she overheard Philippine consul general Elizabeth Buensuceso advise Contemplacion in July 1992 to plead guilty and that she would only be sentenced to five years in prison if she did so
Contemplacion had denied any involvement in the murders to Sarceno and claimed she had been forced to lie in a coffin filled with dry ice
Sarceno asserted she personally witnessed Contemplacion being tortured by prison guards via electrocution involving a basin of water
Sarceno also claimed Contemplacion appeared visibly drugged before going to court during her trial, often taking a few days to return to normal cognitive functioning, and Sarceno observed prison officers taking Contemplacion to the prison infirmary the day preceding each court appearance
Contemplacion's niece Josie De Sagun claimed to have received a letter where Contemplacion made allegations of being raped and forced fed tranquilizers against her will
Alicia Vinzon Mabulay claimed to have spoken to Contemplacion while she was briefly detained in Changi Prison for immigration offences in 1993, and was informed by Contemplacion that she was tortured and drugged by the guards
the original trial judge should have considered a defence of diminished responsibility before finding Contemplacion guilty of murder and sentencing her to death

The Singaporean government described the findings as "totally absurd" and based on uncorroborated hearsay testimonies of individuals who did not witness the crime itself, and later released its own point by point rebuttal of the findings, such as: or to a nun (Sister Gerard Fernandez) who visited her weekly on death row.

although Contemplacion underwent EEG tests, they took place in a hospital 10 miles away where Sarceno wasn't present
while it was true Contemplacion received antibiotics and painkillers while on remand she was not issued any medication at all during her trial
Contemplacion had never complained of being raped to visiting Philippine Embassy officials, all 70 letters sent by Contemplacion from prison were copied by authorities as a matter of policy
Contemplacion was already segregated in the death row section of Moon Crescent Prison at the time Mabulay was imprisoned in the general population of Changi Women's Prison, therefore it was impossible for them to have spoken to each other
Contemplacion was examined before her trial by independent psychiatrist Doctor Fong Yeng Hoi, who found she was not suffering from any mental illness that would impair her perception of events or people via hallucinations and cause her to act irrationally, which therefore procedurally barred Contemplacion's lawyer from submitting a defence based on pleading not guilty by reason of insanity

Fate of Contemplacion's family

On 20 October 2005, three of Contemplacion's sons, Sandrex and twins Jun-Jun and Joel, were arrested for drug trafficking after a buy-bust sting operation by San Pablo police, where an undercover officer bought ₱3,000 worth of methamphetamine from the brothers. On 9 March 2011, all three were sentenced to life in prison and also fined ₱500,000 each for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. In August 2008, Contemplacion's widower Efren and his new partner were arrested in a similar anti-drug operation by the same police force.

On 6 April 2013, Contemplacion's other son, Romulo, was arrested in San Pablo in connection with the murder of councilman Roland Acbang in Barangay San Crispin, and the attempted murder of Rardine Mercado in Barangay Francisco. A police raid on the Barangay San Diego house that Romulo and three other men were hiding in recovered firearms and hand grenades believed to be linked to the attacks. All four suspects were later charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives, with murder charges also expected to be filed against them after police had finished their forensic evidence investigations.

As of 2023, Contemplacion's only daughter Russel was living in Manila, where she was employed by the Engineering Department of the Congress of the Philippines.

In popular culture

The Flor Contemplacion Story, directed by Joel Lamangan and starring Nora Aunor in the role of Contemplacion, was released by Viva Entertainment and also won Best Picture in the Cairo Film Festival in 1995.

The story of Contemplacion, starring Gina Alajar in the role of Della Maga, was also featured in another film by Regal Films and Golden Lions Films Productions, Victim No. 1: Delia Maga (Jesus, Pray for Us! : A Massacre In Singapore), directed by Carlo J. Caparas. In the film, Della Maga's name was changed to Delia Maga.

In 1995, another documentary film on the incident, was released, titled Bagong Bayani (aka "A New Hero" or "Unsung Heroine"), and directed by Tikoy Aguiluz. It starred Helen Gamboa as Contemplacion and Chanda Romero as Maga.

The case of Flor Contemplacion was also featured in an episode of GMA Network's crime documentary program, Case Unclosed.

The aftermath of Flor Contemplacion's family after her execution was shown on GMA Network's drama anthology series, Magpakailanman, starring Alessandra de Rossi as Flor's daughter Russel, who suffered from a string of unfortunate events after her mother's death including her widower's drug addiction, the imprisonment of her father and siblings from drugs, and hardships on balancing work and motherhood. The episode was titled “Life After the Death of Flor Contemplacion” and originally aired on 13 April 2013.

In Singapore, the Flor Contemplacion murders was also one of the cases solved by Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, the senior forensic pathologist. It was later re-enacted by the Singaporean crime show Whispers of the Dead in 2014. Contemplacion, Huang and Maga had their names changed for dramatic purposes and to protect their identities, although the overall turn of events and trial proceedings remained reminiscent of the real life events.

References

External links

Public Prosecutor v Flor R Contemplacion- 1993 SGHC 179 - archived judgment text from trial of Flor Contemplacion (OpenLaw)
Public Prosecutor v Flor R Contemplacion- 1994 SGHC 168 - archived judgment text from retrial of Flor Contemplacion (OpenLaw)
Contemplacion v Public Prosecutor- 1994 SGCA 112 - archived judgment text from appeal of Flor Contemplacion (OpenLaw)
VARIOUS : A FILIPINA MAID IS HANGED FOR A DOUBLE MURDER - video montage of news footage regarding Contemplacion's execution (Reuters)
: THE FILIPINO MAID EXECUTED IN SINGAPORE IS GIVEN A MARTYR'S FUNERAL - video montage of news footage regarding Contemplacion's funeral (Reuters)
Whispers of the Dead - S1:E13 - Contemplacion - Singaporean TV police procedural drama based on the Flor Contemplacion murder case