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Monday, September 12, 2005
Pinay maid faces hanging for Singapore murder
MANILA -- Government on Sunday assured support, particularly legal aid, to the 29-year-old Filipina worker charged with murder for killing a compatriot in Singapore and dismembering her body.
Gilberto Asuque, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said Guen Garlejo Aguilar, of Baguio City, has been charged with the murder of fellow Filipina maid Jane Parangan La Puebla, 26, of Nueva Vizcaya.
Asuque said the accused would not be entering any plea when she faces court on September 16.
He said he did not have the details of the case and the possible motives of Aguilar but the Singaporean police, who said the killing occurred Wednesday, have already completed its investigation.
Aguilar, who was arrested several hours after the dismembered body of the victim was discovered, faces a mandatory penalty of death by hanging if found guilty of the case.
La Puebla's head and limbs were found on Friday inside a blue sports bag near a subway station in the heart of Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping street and one of its busiest thoroughfares.
The head was wrapped in a red plastic bag, while the limbs were placed in two black trash bags.
A woman's torso was found later the same day at MacRitchie reservoir and police are still trying to determine if it's La Puebla's.
Aguilar, a mother of two, was remanded to the city-state's central police lock-up for a week without access to counsel, so that the prosecution could carry out further investigations.
Clad in a bright yellow t-shirt and blue sweater, Aguilar looked exhausted throughout the court proceedings.
She shed tears occasionally, sniffling loudly as the interpreter repeated to her in Filipino what court officials were reading out in English.
In Manila, administrator Marianito Roque of the labor department's Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said Sunday that the suspect is a native of the northern Philippines who entered Singapore on a worker's visa.
Roque said the victim did not have a visa based on their records.
Manila's labor attache in Singapore, Miriam Cuasay, is providing assistance to the suspect, he added. A Philippine legal counsel, Maria Isleta, has also been assigned to her case.
The case comes about a decade when Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, was hanged in Singapore for killing another Filipina maid. (Sunnex/With AP/AFP)
(September 12, 2005 issue)
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