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".