The Flor Contemplacion Story II: The Curse

I recently watched The Flor Contemplacion Story on YouTube, a film starring the legendary Nora Aunor. It recounts the life of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic helper who was hanged in Singapore for the alleged murders of another Filipina and a 4-year-old boy. The film sparked a wave of curiosity about the fate of Flor’s family, 18 years after her execution. I initially believed that her four children, along with her husband, were living comfortable lives. After all, millions in donations poured in from various sectors in the aftermath of her death. 

However, I was mistaken. The sacrifices Flor made for her family—to create a better life for them—seemed to have been in vain. The better future she had hoped for them remains nothing more than an elusive dream. Flor’s eldest son, Sandrex, tragically died in prison while serving a life sentence for drug pushing. Her only daughter, Russel, has faced a series of heart-wrenching tragedies: she separated from her husband, lost her eldest child to cerebral palsy, and now struggles to raise her three surviving children alone. Flor’s twin sons, Joel and Junjun, are languishing in the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, each serving a life sentence for drug peddling. To make matters worse, Flor’s husband, Efren, and his live-in partner are both jailed on drug-related charges. 

The tragic story of the Contemplacion family continues to unfold, as the same people Flor tried so desperately to protect and provide for seem to be cursed by the very forces she fought against. But why has life been so cruel to them? This question haunts me, and I can’t help but feel an unsettling need to uncover the root cause of their seemingly endless tribulations. A particular scene from the movie keeps playing in my mind, where Flor, faced with the injustice of her situation, uttered a chilling statement: “Kapag pinatay nyo ako, hindi ko kayo patatahimikin!” (“If you kill me, I won’t let you have peace!”). 

Those words reverberate in my head, as if they have never truly left the world. Could it be that Flor’s curse, born out of her own anguish and frustration, has boomeranged back onto her own family, condemning them to a life of suffering? The thought is both unsettling and haunting. Perhaps, in the end, the Contemplacion family's misfortunes are not just the result of systemic injustice, but of some deeper, unseen force at work—a curse, a vengeance, or simply the heavy weight of history, trauma, and unhealed wounds. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the tragedy of Flor Contemplacion extends far beyond her death.