Family of sentenced Filipina maid look for postponement
Family of sentenced Filipina maid look for postponement
SINGAPORE (Reuter): The family of a Filipina maid expected to be hanged on Friday hopes Singapore will delay the execution, the family's lawyer said yesterday.
Flor Contemplacion, 42, was sentenced to hang for the 1991 murder of a Filipina maid and a three-year-old son of her employers.
The Contemplacion family's lawyer, Romeo Capulong, said he arrived here on Monday to present new evidence claiming Contemplacion is innocent.
"We are feverishly working on the papers and making follow- ups" on legal and diplomatic levels, Capulong told Reuters.
Contemplacion's four children, including twin 15-year-old sons, visited her in prison on Tuesday, said the lawyer.
"Naturally they are very sad, but the news I gave them last night about the strong support they are getting from our people back home -- the media, the government and even the international community -- has boosted their confidence that their mother will be saved."
The news of Contemplacion's expected hanging sparked an appeal to Singapore from Philippines President Fidel Ramos, as well as protests in Manila and threats of retaliation by communist rebels in the Philippines.
The Singapore government has not so far publicly responded to the protests.
"I came here to work for the stay of execution, to re-open the case and conduct a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence which proves that Flor Contemplacion was not the person who committed the two murders," said Capulong.
The lawyer said he has sworn testimony of Contemplacion's innocence from three individuals in the Philippines, which he presented to the office of Singapore President Ong Teng Cheong on Monday. There are two more people in the Philippines whose testimony is now being taken, Capulong said.
In addition, he said: "This is a case where the husband of the convict and the husband of the deceased have jointly petitioned the government to stay the execution and re-open the case, because both are seeking justice for their respective wives."
Two senior Manila officials are said to be making personal appeals this week. Officials at the Philippine Embassy here could not be reached for comment.
Stay
"The immediate goal is an indefinite stay of execution," said Capulong. "I'm still very optimistic."
"We're very confident that we will be able to get a stay," he said.
In Hong Kong, more than 30 Filipino workers petitioned the Philippine and Singapore consulates in Hong Kong yesterday urging Singapore not to hang a Filipina convicted of murder.
They demanded a retrial for Contemplacion and accused Manila of not doing enough to help.
Carrying banners stating, "Flor is not an isolated case" the protesters handed in petitions signed by more than 4,000 people in Hong Kong.