Body of hanged maid welcome as hero

Body of hanged maid welcome as hero

SAN PABLO, Philippines (Agencies): Thousands of Filipinos,
angry at both the Manila and Singapore governments, jammed into
the small town of San Pablo yesterday to pay their last respects
to a Filipina maid hanged in Singapore for murder.

More than 5,000 town residents and supporters from Manila and
nearby areas, including Amelita Ramos, wife of President Fidel
Ramos, flocked round the one-room house of Flor Contemplacion to
try to catch a glimpse of her body, returned home within a day of
her execution on Friday in Changi Prison.

The influx of more supporters made traffic impossible on the
two-way street leading to Contemplacion's house, where her wake
is to be held starting late yesterday.

Philippine President Fidel Ramos hailed Contemplacion as a
heroine and sent his wife, Amelita, to Manila airport to join
supporters of the hanged 42-year-old mother of four for the
return of her body.

Some mourners waved white handkerchiefs and others clenched
their fists and carried placards saying "Justice for Flor
Contemplacion" as her body passed through Manila's streets.

Singapore rejected pleas for clemency or a stay of execution
from President Fidel Ramos and others for Contemplacion, hanged
for the 1991 murders of another Filipina maid, Della Maga, and
the three-year-old son of Maga's Singaporean employers.

Hundreds of protesters vented their outrage by throwing
rubbish at the main Manila office of the Department of Foreign
Affairs, which was accused of being remiss in its duty to fully
protect their late countrywoman. They painted a red "X" mark on
the gates, shouting the agency was "rotten".

Singapore was the main target of the protest rallies in Manila
and San Pablo. "Blast those Singaporeans" were among slogans on
placards carried by demonstrators.

Ramos paid tribute to Contemplacion while marking the 50th
anniversary of the liberation of a group of Philippine islands at
the end of World War II.

"On this occasion, I also would like to pay tribute and render
honor to a new kind of Filipina hero, who are our overseas
workers," he told war veterans.

"Today the body of one such heroine is coming home and I refer
to the late Mrs. Flor Contemplacion.

"The death of your beloved Flor will not be in vain. It will
spur everyone to recognize and uphold the dignity of the migrant
worker who is the Philippines' contribution to other country's
development."

Ramos announced the creation of 120,000-peso (US$4,800)
scholarship fund, partly drawn from his salary, for
Contemplacion's four children.

A week ago, a communist assassination squad threatened to
retaliate against Singaporeans if the execution took place.
It also threatened Philippine authorities whom it said had failed
in their duty to protect Contemplacion.

Rebuttal

Meanwhile the Singapore government issued a lengthy and
strongly worded rebuttal yesterday of 11th-hour claims by an ex-
cellmate of Contemplacion that Contemplacion was innocent of a
double murder charge.

The cellmate, Virginia Parumog, came to Singapore in the small
hours of Friday in a last-ditch effort by lawyers for the
Contemplacion family to stay the execution.

Parumog went directly to a police station and signed an
affidavit alleging that Contemplacion, a 42-year-old mother of
four, did not kill another maid, Della Maga, or the three-year-
old son of Maga's employers in 1991.

"These claims are pure fabrication," a Home Affairs Ministry
statement said. "The wild and baseless allegations of Virginia
Parumog are yet another attempt to stir up controversy over the
Flor Contemplacion case, without any regard for the truth."

The Home Ministry said that Parumog claimed Contemplacion told
her, while both were in Changi Prison, that when visiting Della
Maga the two maids had discovered the boy, Nicholas Huang, had
drowned.

In the affidavit Parumog claimed Flor told her that, "Della
immediately phoned her employer about the incident. Her male
employer immediately rushed home. Very angry, the employer
strangled Della's neck."

Then, the affidavit states, the employer called the police and
implicated Flor in the double murder.

But, according to the Home Ministry, the facts are that when
the police arrived Contemplacion was not at the scene. She was
traced later through entries made in Della Maga's diary. In
addition, the Home Ministry said, it was not the boy's father who
phoned police it was the mother.

The Home Ministry statement dismissed other claims made by
Parumog including that Contemplacion had undergone electric shock
treatment while awaiting trial and had been drugged.

The ministry said Flor was given two electro-encephalogram
(EEG) tests, one of which was ordered by her own defense
psychiatrist. As for drugs, the ministry said, Contemplacion was
given medication only for headaches and a sore throat.

The statement also pointed out that Contemplacion had had
ample opportunity to protest her innocence while in jail and had
chosen not to do so.

"During her imprisonment 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," the ministry said.

"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," it added.

The Home Ministry statement provided information on Parumog
which stated that she was 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 Singapore $100
(US$70) per sexual entertainment".