LAGIM: A Filipino True Crime · LAGIM Podcast

The Stories of Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan

·46 min

In May 1991, Filipino domestic helper Delia Maga and her young charge Nicholas Huang were murdered in Singapore. Flor Contemplacion, another Filipino OFW, was arrested the next day and confessed after hours of interrogation (later alleging torture). Despite retracting her confession, presenting mental health evidence (epilepsy), and having an inmate testify to an alternative account, Flor was convicted and sentenced to death. Her execution on March 17, 1995, sparked a 40,000-person funeral and diplomatic crisis, exposing systemic vulnerabilities of overseas workers, judicial procedures' disregard for coercion and medical evidence, and international law gaps.

As heard by us

A grave, carefully built account of Flor Contemplacion's case and the failures that followed her execution.

Flor Contemplacion's execution in Singapore is the episode's central wound, and Sara Balabagan's story broadens it into a harder look at the risks faced by women overseas Filipino workers.

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Why you'd press play

You want a true-crime episode where Flor Contemplacion's execution opens into questions about overseas Filipino workers, evidence, and whether the Ramos government did enough.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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