Source: The Manila Times
Labor chief calls for calm among Pinoy workers in Singapore amid slurs
April 26, 2014 4:43 pm
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has advised Filipinos working in Singapore to keep calm in the face of online protest to the celebration the Philippine Independence Day at Singapore’s Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.
Last week, Singaporean journalist Kirsten Han raised the alarm on such anti-Filipino sentiments, warning that protesters are congregating on a Facebook page and are egging each other to disrupt the Philippine Independence day celebration in Singapore on June 8.
Han posted screenshots of online messages from Singaporeans spewing racial epithets at Filipinos.
Singapore Prime Minister has called for a stop to the slurs, saying the people behind them is a disgrace to Singapore.
Lee has called on Singaporeans to take a stand against bigotry.
“We call on our Filipino workers to be calm because as long as they have legitimate papers [allowing them to work in Singapore], their stay there is valid. We have to remember that foreign workers are [hired] in Singapore or in any other country because the government of the host country allows them to,” Baldoz told Radyo ng Bayan.
Based on Philippine government records, there are at least 170,000 Filipinos working in Singapore. Of this number, 60 percent are professional and skilled workers, while 40 percent are household service workers.
Hostility in Singapore toward Filipinos and other foreign workers surfaced in the mid 1990s during the deaths of Filipino household service workers Flor Contemplacion and Delia Maga.
Contemplacion was hanged after a Singaporean court convicted her of killing her friend Maga and Nicholas Huang, the three-year-old son of Maga’s employer.
Witnesses for Contemplacion claimed that Huang accidentally died because of an epileptic attack while in the bathtub under Maga’s watch. As such, Huang’s father vented his ire at Maga and killed her.
It was Contemplacion who was blamed for the murders.
LLANESCA PANTI
Excerpt from TR EMERITUS:
However, according to a report on NLB [Link], Contemplacion admitted to the double murder. The police found Contemplacion through Maga’s diary, which contained the name and address of Contemplacion. The police then decided to question her. After interrogating Contemplacion and checking her alibi, which turned out to be false, the police arrested her on 5 May 1991. Two days later, she was charged for the two murders.
In her statements to the police and subsequent court testimony, Contemplacion admitted to the double murder and gave a detailed account of what happened. She also claimed that she had felt ill before the killings and that she was not in control of herself when she was hurting the victims.
According to Contemplacion, Maga, who was scheduled to return to the Philippines on 5 May 1991, had agreed to help her deliver a parcel to her parents there. So, on the morning of 4 May, she went to Maga’s flat to hand her the parcel. When Maga was in the kitchen doing some work, Contemplacion used an elastic cord to strangle her from behind. After Maga collapsed, she dragged the body to the attached bathroom, where she saw Nicholas playing with water in a pail. She stood behind him, held him by his upper arms and pushed his head into the pail. She let go when the boy became motionless. She then took some items that Maga was planning to take back to the Philippines and left the flat.
Flor Contemplacion was found guilty and sentenced to death in January 1993. She was executed by hanging on 17 March 1995.
Labor chief calls for calm among Pinoy workers in Singapore amid slurs
April 26, 2014 4:43 pm
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has advised Filipinos working in Singapore to keep calm in the face of online protest to the celebration the Philippine Independence Day at Singapore’s Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.
Last week, Singaporean journalist Kirsten Han raised the alarm on such anti-Filipino sentiments, warning that protesters are congregating on a Facebook page and are egging each other to disrupt the Philippine Independence day celebration in Singapore on June 8.
Han posted screenshots of online messages from Singaporeans spewing racial epithets at Filipinos.
Singapore Prime Minister has called for a stop to the slurs, saying the people behind them is a disgrace to Singapore.
Lee has called on Singaporeans to take a stand against bigotry.
“We call on our Filipino workers to be calm because as long as they have legitimate papers [allowing them to work in Singapore], their stay there is valid. We have to remember that foreign workers are [hired] in Singapore or in any other country because the government of the host country allows them to,” Baldoz told Radyo ng Bayan.
Based on Philippine government records, there are at least 170,000 Filipinos working in Singapore. Of this number, 60 percent are professional and skilled workers, while 40 percent are household service workers.
Hostility in Singapore toward Filipinos and other foreign workers surfaced in the mid 1990s during the deaths of Filipino household service workers Flor Contemplacion and Delia Maga.
Contemplacion was hanged after a Singaporean court convicted her of killing her friend Maga and Nicholas Huang, the three-year-old son of Maga’s employer.
Witnesses for Contemplacion claimed that Huang accidentally died because of an epileptic attack while in the bathtub under Maga’s watch. As such, Huang’s father vented his ire at Maga and killed her.
It was Contemplacion who was blamed for the murders.
LLANESCA PANTI
Excerpt from TR EMERITUS:
However, according to a report on NLB [Link], Contemplacion admitted to the double murder. The police found Contemplacion through Maga’s diary, which contained the name and address of Contemplacion. The police then decided to question her. After interrogating Contemplacion and checking her alibi, which turned out to be false, the police arrested her on 5 May 1991. Two days later, she was charged for the two murders.
In her statements to the police and subsequent court testimony, Contemplacion admitted to the double murder and gave a detailed account of what happened. She also claimed that she had felt ill before the killings and that she was not in control of herself when she was hurting the victims.
According to Contemplacion, Maga, who was scheduled to return to the Philippines on 5 May 1991, had agreed to help her deliver a parcel to her parents there. So, on the morning of 4 May, she went to Maga’s flat to hand her the parcel. When Maga was in the kitchen doing some work, Contemplacion used an elastic cord to strangle her from behind. After Maga collapsed, she dragged the body to the attached bathroom, where she saw Nicholas playing with water in a pail. She stood behind him, held him by his upper arms and pushed his head into the pail. She let go when the boy became motionless. She then took some items that Maga was planning to take back to the Philippines and left the flat.
Flor Contemplacion was found guilty and sentenced to death in January 1993. She was executed by hanging on 17 March 1995.
