An Ecumenical Service in Remembrance of Flor Contemplacion’s 20th Death Anniversary.
By Hessed Torres
Vancouver, BC – Migrante BC, a community-based Filipino organization, gathered on March 15, 2015 to commemorate the 20th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic worker in Singapore who was hanged on March 17, 1995. Flor Contemplacion was accused of allegedly killing Delia Maga, her Filipina friend who was working as a maid as well and Nicolas Huang, the three-year old son of Maga’s employer. After four years in prison, two of which were spent on death row, Contemplacion was found guilty by the Singapore government and sentenced to death by hanging. Throughout all her time in prison, there was hardly any sufficient support for her case from the Philippine government at the time nor was Contemplacion able to receive significant legal representation during her trial. Contemplacion’s death angered many Filipinos and helped pave the way towards a consciousness of the serious implications of migration and the difficulties Filipino overseas workers (OFWs) face outside the country. After the execution of Contemplacion, Migrante International, now the biggest organization of overseas Filipinos around the world, was founded and it has become an active defender of the rights and welfare of OFWs.
Rose Nartates, COURAGE
Secretary-General. Photo by Bert Morelos.
The ecumenical service was attended by Migrante members as well as advocates, artists, church people, professors, and community leaders both from Canada and the Philippines. The chosen offerings of water, rice, plant, and soil to the altar during the service were symbolic of the most basic rights that are still being denied to the marginalized sectors of the Philippines. The lighting of the candle signified the continuing people’s struggle for genuine and peaceful change in our society and the hope for a better tomorrow.
Migrante BC recognizes forced migration as one of the severe consequences of joblessness and extreme poverty. As of today, about 4,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines every day to find employment elsewhere, making the Philippines one of the top source countries for human labour. The Philippine government continues its commodification of Filipino labour which is confirmed by the growing number of migrant workers per year. This phenomenon has created a massive impact on the personal, familial and social facets of everyone involved. Families are inevitably torn apart, migrant workers become subjects of physical, sexual and economic abuse; migrant workers are made easy targets of harsh immigration policies; and many migrant workers endure homesickness, isolation, depression, and alienation.
Political, economic and social action must take place to create substantial changes for the migrant workers who are dubbed the “modern day heroes” by the Philippine government. But while these dreams and aspirations are not fully realized just yet, Migrante BC continues to uphold and defend migrant workers’ rights and welfare by striving to give a voice to overseas Filipino workers. Along with its advocacy networks such as Migrante Canada, Migrante International and International Migrants Alliance, Migrante BC aims to empower and educate migrant workers in hopes that there will be no more Flor Contemplacions in the future.
Migrante BC members and friends.
