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 three-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, although relations soon recovered.

Biography
Flor Contemplacion was born in San Pablo City in the Laguna province of Luzon, and was married with four children at the time of her death. In 1988, she travelled to Singapore in search of work to support her young family, eventually finding employment as a domestic servant in the Cardiff Road area of Serangoon. Contemplacion often worked seven days a week from 6am until midnight, doing household chores and looking after her employer's child.

Background to arrest
On 4 May 1991, Delia Mamaril Maga (born on 6 October 1955, in Tarlac), a 34-year-old Filipino domestic worker, was found strangled to death in an apartment in Bukit Panjang. A three-year-old boy, Nicholas Huang, 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.

At around 7pm, police arrested 38-year-old Filipino citizen Flor Ramos Contemplacion at Serangoon Road in Kallang. Contemplacion was found in possession of luxury items (seven watches, a 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 5 May 1991, Contemplacion finally confessed to killing both victims, and on 7 May 1991 she was charged with the double murder of Delia Mamaril Maga and Nicholas Huang and then remanded in custody.

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 the Tagalog interpreter (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 T.S Sinnathuray therefore ruled all five statements were given voluntarily and could be admitted as evidence.

The prosecution thereafter submitted as evidence the statements made by Contemplacion, where she described making friends with Maga in June 1990. On the morning of the murders, Contemplacion went to the apartment in Bukit Panjang to meet Maga, as she wanted to hand over a parcel that Maga would deliver to her parents during her upcoming holiday to the Philippines. However, Maga refused to take the package with her, saying it was too heavy to bring on the airplane. While Contemplacion was talking to Maga, she suddenly had a psychotic episode where she broke out into a cold sweat and felt the urge to harm Maga. Contemplacion then strangled Maga from behind with an elastic cord and when she was dead dragged her body into a bathroom. There she discovered Nicholas playing with toys in a bucket of water, and Contemplacion grasped him by the upper body and dunked his head under the water until he stopped moving. Contemplacion then grabbed some of Maga's possessions and fled the apartment.

When called to give her defence, Contemplacion opted to remain silent, and her lawyer decided not to call any witnesses or make any submissions on her behalf either. DPP Ponnampalam also declined to present any arguments due to the stance of the defence team.

Verdict
On 29 January 1993, Flor Contemplacion was found guilty as charged and sentenced to death for the murder of Delia Mamaril Maga and Nicholas Huang, in accordance with Section 302 of the Penal Code of Singapore. When the sentence was announced, Contemplacion broke down into tears and had to be supported by two prison officers as she was lead from the dock.

Appeal
On 26 January 1994, defence lawyer Sant Singh raised the defence of diminished responsibility during a hearing at the Court of Appeal in regards to Contemplacion's conviction, stating that the issue of her mental state was never raised during her original trial and new exculpatory evidence had since come to light regarding her psychiatric condition during the murders. An affidavit containing observations from Gleneagles Hospital consultant psychiatrist Doctor Terence Burke, who had studied the case in detail and since examined Contemplacion personally, was requested to be submitted by Singh. The appeal judges thereafter suspended the hearing and ordered that the original trial judge re-open the case and review the new evidence.

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 psycho-sensory epilepsy, a mental illness that significantly impaired her responsibility for her actions on the day in question. Deputy Public Prosecutor P.S. Raj argued that Contemplacion had been examined previously by government psychiatrist Chan Khim Yew and was determined to have no abnormality of the mind that would impair her mental reasoning abilities.

After deliberation, the judge rejected Contemplacion's appeal and confirmed her earlier death sentence, ruling that she did not suffer from any serious mental illness at the time of the double homicide, and that she had consciously and deliberately murdered both victims. The court's judgement noted that the comprehensiveness of Contemplacion's actions in the apartment, such as using two different methods to silently kill each victim and locking the youngest child in a bedroom to prevent the sound of her crying alerting any bystanders, coupled with her ability to remember the events of that day in clear detail, proved that she was not suffering from a partial complex seizure during the time of the murders. The fact that both women had argued over the size of the package Maga refused to take with her to the Philippines on Contemplacion's behalf was attributed as a more likely motive for the fatal attack, according to the judge.

Philippines President Fidel V. Ramos wrote to Singapore President Ong Teng Cheong twice, once to grant clemency to Contemplacion and the other to delay execution to evaluate purported new evidence which had surfaced.

Allegations against Huang's father
In the days leading up to the scheduled 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
 * Delia 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 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:
 * when the police arrived at the crime scene Contemplacion was not there, Huang's father never mentioned Contemplacion's name during questioning nor made accusations against any other named person, and Contemplacion was in fact arrested in another part of Singapore later that day after the police themselves identified her as a person of interest
 * Contemplacion made five statements to police, all of which were translated by an interpreter from the Philippine Embassy in Singapore and written copies of each were then signed by Contemplacion herself
 * although her original trial lawyer challenged their admissibility on a legal technicality, Contemplacion never disavowed the contents of the statements she gave to the police and she did not retract her original confession throughout her trial, appeal, or petition for clemency from the President of Singapore
 * Contemplacion was given two EEG tests, one of which was in fact requested by her own defence psychiatrist Doctor Terence Burke, at Tan Tock Seng hospital to help determine her mental health, however she was never administered electric shocks at any point during her incarceration
 * although Contemplacion was handcuffed to a bedframe while under psychiatric observation, this was standard procedure for all prisoners facing charges related to capital punishment for security reasons and was not intended as a form of mistreatment
 * while Contemplacion was prescribed medication for headaches and a sore throat while on remand, medical records proved she was not given any sort of medicine at all during her trial
 * Changi Prison officers did not detect any attempt to smuggle letters from Contemplacion by Parumog or any other inmate
 * Parumog was sent to solitary confinement cells on four different occasions, not for any events linked to Contemplacion but instead twice for fighting with other prisoners, once for giving herself a tattoo against prison regulations and once for a suicide attempt

Execution
Sister Gerard Fernandez (a Good Shepherd nun) accompanied Contemplacion on her final walk to the gallows, where they both sang the hymn Amazing Grace. Sister Gerard later described Contemplacion as being calm and at peace in her final moments.

Just before dawn on the morning of 17 March 1995, Flor Contemplacion was hanged at Changi Prison alongside three men convicted of drug trafficking. Her execution went ahead as scheduled despite a personal plea for clemency from President of the Philippines Fidel Ramos to the Singaporean government.

Aftermath
Many Filipinos believed that Contemplacion was innocent or at least insane, blaming the Singaporean government for a "lack of compassion", and the Philippine government for "not doing enough" to stop the execution. The Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Romulo, and Secretary of Labor and Employment, Nieves Confesor, both resigned as a result of the controversy.

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. The former Embassy labour attache Reynaldo Catapang later confirmed that they did not hire a private lawyer to represent Contemplacion and allowed the Singaporean authorities to appoint a public defender instead, nor did they keep any records of the legal proceedings or transcripts of the court case itself.

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 March 19. 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. Prelates of the local Catholic Church also condemned the execution.

There were several protests held across the Philippines over Contemplacion's execution, some of which were organized by politicians and labor organizations. Thousands of Singapore flags were burned in the protests. In one of the protests, the mayor of Davao City and future Philippine president, 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.

Following the execution, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's planned trip to Manila, which was at the invitation of President Ramos, was postponed. President Ramos recalled the Filipino ambassador to Singapore, and many bilateral exchanges between the countries were cancelled.

A Presidential Fact Finding Commission was setup in the Philippines to investigate Contemplacion's case and the findings were submitted to President Ramos on April 6, 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. In response to the findings, the Singapore government rejected the findings but agreed to President Ramos's request to examine Maga's remains by two Singaporean pathologists and three foreign consultants.

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 and 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. The independent panel ultimately did determine that Maga's cause of death was asphyxia, which the Philippines government accepted. Philippines and Singapore began to reconcile their bilateral relations.

1995 Presidential Fact Finding Commission
In April 1995, a Presidential Fact Finding Commission was set up by President Ramos to investigate the facts surrounding the death of Delia Maga and the conviction of Flor Contemplacion for her murder. 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 5 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:
 * Contemplacion had confessed to the murders over a year before meeting Buensuceso and Sarceno was not present in the part of the prison where the interview took place on the day in question
 * no coffins are kept in any prisons in Singapore and Contemplacion never complained of mistreatment to Philippine embassy officials who had visited her dozens of times 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 and none of those contained any allegations of rape, and Contemplacion was detained in prisons with all female staff the entire time she was incarcerated
 * 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 October 20, 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 the San Pablo City police, where an undercover officer bought PHP3,000 worth of methamphetamine from the brothers. On March 9, 2011, all three were sentenced to life in prison and also fined PHP500,000 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 April 6, 2013, Contemplacion's other son (Romulo) was arrested in San Pablo City 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 Contemplacion 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.

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 the victim starring Gina Alajar in the role of Delia 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 1995, there is another documentary film of both Flor Contemplacion and Delia Maga in 1995 film called Bagong Bayani (aka "A New Hero" or "Unsung Heroine"), directed by Tikoy Aguiluz. Starring Helen Gamboa as Flor Contemplacion and Chanda Romero as Delia 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 dramatized on GMA Network's drama anthology series, Magpakailanman, starring Alessandra de Rossi as Flor's daughter Russel, who was suffered from a string of unfortunate events after her mother's death including her husband's drug addiction, the imprisonment of her father and siblings from drugs, and hardships on balancing worktime and motherhood. The episode was titled "Life After the Death of Flor Contemplacion" and originally aired on April 13, 2013.

The Flor Contemplacion murders was also one of the iconic 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. The perpetrator Flor Contemplacion and her two victims Nicholas Huang and Della 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.