Migrante Philippines launched a protest on Recto Avenue, Manila yesterday, March 17, to commemorate the three decades since the execution of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino migrant worker in Singapore. Along with the continued call for justice, they urged the Philippine government to stop the policy of forced migration under the labor export policy (LEP) that endangers Filipinos.

Contemplacion was a migrant worker who was sentenced to death in Singapore in 1995. She was implicated in the killing of a fellow Filipino domestic helper and the child of a Singaporean. She was executed on the morning of March 17, 1995.

The controversial execution of Contemplacion sparked widespread protests and demonstrations both in the Philippines and Singapore. Filipinos then condemned the Ramos regime for its neglect of migrants and for driving Filipinos to work overseas.

“Thirty years after Flor Contemplacion’s execution in Singapore, the state’s neglect of migrant workers worldwide persists,” Migrante Philippines stated. According to the group, the state until now continues to deny justice and assistance to migrant workers like her.

The group condemned the Marcos regime for its continued promotion of LEP. It said that the government persists to mainly prioritize the accumulation of billions of dollars in remittances from OFWs. In 2024, migrant remittances that enter the country reached to $38.34 billion. This does not include the hundreds of thousands each OFW spent in fees just to process their departure from the country.

In the latest estimate, approximately 6,000 Filipinos leave the country daily to work overseas. In 2024 alone, almost 2.5 million Filipinos went abroad, considered the largest in history.

Filipino migrants experience abuse, difficult situations and working conditions in the countries where they work. This includes the danger brought by wars funded by the US and its allied countries in the Middle East. “The hardships OFWs experienced are deliberately hidden by embassies in other countries, as well as by Foreign Recruitment Agencies (FRA) that send Filipinos into dangerous situations,” Migrante Philippines shared.

On the occasion of the anniversary of Contemplacion’s execution, Migrante Philippines also reiterated the call for the immediate release and granting of clemency to Mary Jane Veloso. Veloso returned to the Philippines on December 18, 2024 after almost 15 years of imprisonment in Indonesia, for bringing in illegal drugs. She was immediately charged by Indonesia and quickly sentenced to death. Her execution by firing squad was set for April 19, 2015, which was prevented by protests and actions of the Filipino people.

“The continued departure of Filipinos from the country just to have a decent life for their families is a sign of an economy mired by being import-dependent and export-oriented, imposed by the current semi-colonial and semi-feudal system,” according to Migrante Philippines.

The group stated that only through the unity of Filipino migrants and their families, along with various democratic sectors in the country, can complete change in the social system that will stop forced migration be realized. “There is no other solution to the continued suffering of the Filipino people but to demand genuine land reform, and national industrialization so that poverty will no longer force Filipinos to leave the country,” the group said.