GMA program to dig into case of executed OFW Flor Contemplacion

MANILA, Philippines - After almost 14 years, the Filipino public will once again be faced with the questions that surround the execution of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Flor Contemplacion in Singapore through an episode of GMA Network’s "Case Unclosed." Contemplacion, a 42-year-old domestic worker in Singapore, was accused of murdering fellow Filipino maid Delia Maga and Nicholas Huang, the four-year-old Singaporean child Maga was taking care of. On May 4, 1991, Maga was found strangled to death while Huang was discovered to have drowned. Without a clear suspect, police questioned Contemplacion after learning about her through Maga’s diary. She quickly confessed to killing the victims after she was interrogated – which some people alleged she did under duress. She was then sentenced to death by hanging. Before Contemplacion was executed, two Filipino witnesses claimed that Huang’s father framed the Filipina worker for the murders. They said that he killed Maga after finding out that Huang suffered from epileptic attack while in the bathtub and drowned under her watch. However, the accusation was rejected. Even pleas to prevent the execution from then President Fidel Ramos were left unheeded by the Singaporean government. Contemplacion was hanged at 6 a.m. of March 17, 1995, together with three male drug traffickers. And as his first assignment on "Case Unclosed," multi-awarded broadcast journalist Arnold Clavio will once again investigate the case. In the show, Clavio will visit Veerasamy Road and Gangsa Road where Contemplacion and Maga once talked about their hopes and dreams and Changi Prison where the Filipina was incarcerated for almost four years before she was hanged. He will also look into the current condition of the Filipina worker’s husband Efren who is now in prison, and their four children – three of whom are also in jail. The program will also show Maga’s husband who, since his wife’s death, has become a drunk. An inmate at the Changi Prison named Lucena Sacerno will also be interviewed, revealing that Contemplacion was allegedly drugged before the court hearings. Maximo Reyes, former chief of the medico-legal division of the National Bureau of Investigation who did the autopsy on Contemplacion’s remains in the Philippines, will also be interviewed. The dramatization of the last days of Contemplacion in the program was directed by Jon Red, who was the Best Jury Prize awardee at the Mondiale dela Video in Brussels, Belgium. The Flor Contemplacion episode will air on March 12 (Thursday) after GMA Network’s late-night news program "Saksi." Meanwhile, GMA Network is also coming out with a new Public Affairs program for Filipinos abroad called "OFW Diaries." Kara David will be the host of the new show whose pilot episode is set to air on March 13 (Friday) also after "Saksi." - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV