It's March 17 tomorrow and I remember three years ago, it was the 25th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion. The whole event to honor her so-called martyrdom in Singapore came to a halt. If there's any country that I name as a starting point for constitutional reform, it's Singapore. I bought the book of the late Lee Kuan Yew namely From Third World to First to gain insights. I doubt I'll ever publish anything that big. Whenever I mention Singapore, I tend to get an answer where I'm insulted severely by a statement like, "Are you crazy? Are you a moron? Have you forgotten Singapore hanged Flor Contemplacion unjustly?" Then I ask for their sources and there's the tendency to point me over to sources like "Just trust me, bro." or "Why don't you watch The Flor Contemplacion Story?"
The narrative has been that Flor, a Filipino maid was wrongfully executed in Singapore. It was in 1995 and it was a very ironic year. It was that same year when Hubert Jeffry P. Webb was wrongfully arrested for the Vizconde Massacre. I could call it a sickening contrast. The crowd was clamoring for Hubert's conviction when he couldn't have done the crime. Meanwhile, Singapore's justice system is so thorough that I'm really convinced that Flor herself was guilty. I could trust the Singaporean justice system better than the Philippine justice system.
In logic, this is what you'd call an appeal to emotion. It's defined as using emotion over reason. Fortunately, the late Fidel V. Ramos decided to renew ties with Singapore even after he initially wanted to sever it. However, other people still continued to make it look like Flor was a victim and a heroine. I wonder if these same people are also the ones still insisting that Hubert masterminded the death of the Vizcondes? Ramos decided to move on and renew ties with Singapore. It was these ties with Singapore that allowed Ramos to map things out for a better economy. Other former Philippine presidents such as the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino and Rodrigo R. Duterte also had renewed ties with Singapore. Before then, Duterte once made the mistake of protesting in favor of Flor.
It's absolutely stupid why people still want to use Flor as an excuse not to learn from Singapore. It would be ironic, if ever if the same people would read quotes of Lee against the Marcoses. It would be ironic if I said, "Well, you just quoted Lee Kuan Yew about the Marcoses. Why not learn from him?" They would make a turn and say, "No! Remember Flor! Pity her and her children!" Well, Flor's twin sons are still in jail for drug-related charges. Meanwhile, one of her sons died in jail. The twins appeared as themselves in The Flor Contemplacion Story--a movie that tried to build awareness of Flor's supposed wrongful treatment. It was directed by Joel Lamangan who also directed the recent movie, Oras De Peligro or Time of Disaster.
This emotional appeal is pretty much holding them backward. I guess they'll forever associate Singapore with "evil" or "murderer". I even remembered some fat American guy who called Singapore "Everybody's favorite tyranny." because of it. These people continue to think about "poor Flor" never mind that the Philippines could've learned a lot from Singapore.
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