Taking issue with Flor Contemplacion

Taking issue with Flor Contemplacion

The film review Flor Contemplacion story flawed but still
respectable (May 18, 2001) by Mr. Joko E.H. Anwar had
inaccuracies which we wish to clarify.

Ms. Flor Contemplacion was not "wrongly hanged for murder in
Singapore", but was given due process in the Singapore courts.
Neither was Ms. Contemplacion coerced into admitting that charges
after being put through a "torture session allegedly conducted by
Singaporean authorities". She had voluntarily admitted in
statements made to the Police -- in the presence of a Labor
Officer from the Philippines Embassy -- to both murders. She was
also given free legal counsel, and officials from the Philippines
Embassy in Singapore met her regularly.

From the time of her arrest by police until her petition for
clemency to the president of Singapore, spanning a period of four
years, Ms. Contemplacion was visited nine times by Philippines
Embassy officials and 68 times by a nun, but at no time did she
express her innocence or claim that she was framed or ill
treated.

WILLIAM TAN

First Secretary

Singapore Embassy

Jakarta