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The Tragic Windfall of the Late Flor Contemplacion's Family

PEH.ph

Last year, I wrote an article talking about Flor Contemplacion crybabies spreading fake news for 30 years. I noticed that the movie could be watched for free on YouTube (which is one hour and 52 minutes long), and the one that you had to pay for via rent or personal soft copy ( which is two hours and two minutes long). I was looking into the film and realized the "for free" version lacks the exaggerated water dunking and electrocution torture scene, which I believe is available, which is a ten-minute difference. I remember seeing the old version where Flor was tortured by Singaporean police via water dunking and electrocution, to get an answer out of her. The famous line by the late Nora Aunor was, "I did not kill anybody!"

It's 31 years, and I don't expect the fake news about Flor to stop just because it's past 30. No, fake news is that hard to kill even in the digital age. It reminds me of the fate of Flor's sons, where one of them, Sandrex, died in jail on September 1, 2012. This time, a business and economics angle is something I should've done last year. This time, I thought about tackling the problem of windfalls. For example, winning the jackpot, like in the game of lottery or in a casino, can be more detrimental than beneficial. In the case of the Contemplacion sons, they had a jackpot, but did they learn ho

These words by the Inquirer from March 9, 2011, hit hard:
The 500-meter compound where they were arrested was acquired by the Contemplacion family with money given to them by government officials after their mother was executed.

Jun-jun and Joel played their own characters in a movie about the life story of their mother, played by Nora Aunor. They reportedly received P100,000 each for their film roles while the Contemplacion family was said to have been paid P2 million by Viva Films for the story rights.

When the Inquirer went to visit the family during Contemplacion’s 10th death anniversary in 2005, the brothers said they were having a hard time providing for their families’ financial needs.

The money received by Flor's family was a windfall. It was something to think about that Efren Contemplacion, Flor's husband, had cheated on her, who was called Neneng, in the film. Later, Efren had another woman, nicknamed Violy, after his previous mistress. It was even said that Flor's remittances were used for the whims of Efren and his lover. 


First and foremost, I would like to apologize in advance for the lack of decent English subtitles in this video, if you happen to be a non-Tagalog speaker. As a Filipino myself, I wish I had the transcript so I could provide English translations. However, if you can understand Tagalog, please watch the video. I'd like to give some details, such as:
  1. The VIVA Films deal gave the family PHP 2 million. But did they learn the manage it?
  2. Just within a few months, only half a million remained. One must question, how in the world did they spend it, and what did they buy with it?  
  3. The revealed purchases were a 500-meter lot, two jeepneys, and a tricycle. They ended up having more taxes to pay from the lot alone. The vehicles also needed maintenance, which added to the expenses. Not having a garage for their vehicles may have caused a lot of problems too, as parking your vehicles outside all the time isn't smart. 
In short, there was no financial discipline. I remember my parents saying, "It doesn't matter how much money we will leave you one day, if you have no discipline." This was the case of Flor's three sons. The PHP 2 million back then would've been PHP 25.00+ on average in 1995. Back then, that money had more purchasing power than the PHP 2 million that anybody can have today. It's because of inflation and PHP devaluation.

I blame the lack of financial literacy for why it happened. The family could've slowly divided the PHP 2 million (and the brothers, the acting fees) this way:
  1. The two brothers could've opened a joint account with the PHP 200,00.00 they received (in total) from that rather awful The Flor Contemplacion Story.
  2. The PHP 2 million royalty could've been used to create a sinking fund (half) and invest half of it in a time deposit, since index funds didn't exist yet at that time. 
  3. Instead of buying a house, they could've chosen to move to a comfortable apartment. 
  4. They could've foregone buying the vehicles and the lot because these things depreciate faster than a time deposit at that time.
Looking back at this, I'm thankful that no matter how imperfect my parents are, they never spoiled me with windfalls. Otherwise, I could've been in the position of the Contemplacion sons,' financial-wise. 

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