Remains of murdered Pinay maid repatriated

SINGAPORE (AFP) — The remains of a Filipina maid allegedly murdered by a compatriot in Singapore were flown back to the country yesterday, according to the Philippine embassy and a funeral home here.

The remains of Jane La Puebla were put aboard a Singapore Airlines flight scheduled to depart Changi Airport at 5:10 p.m., accompanied by the victim’s husband and aunt, an embassy spokeswoman told AFP by telephone.

An employee at the funeral home where La Puebla’s body was brought after an autopsy also confirmed that the remains were bound for the Philippines.

"The body was collected by the freight forwarders at 10 this morning, and has been launched into the plane," the employee said.

La Puebla’s remains are scheduled to be buried Tuesday in Nueva Vizcaya province north of Manila near the grave of her father.

Fellow Filipina domestic helper Guen Aguilar, 29, has been arrested and charged with murdering La Puebla – a crime punishable by hanging in Singapore.

The suspect and victim were said to be friends and no possible motive for the killing has been disclosed by investigators.

The 26-year-old La Puebla’s severed head and limbs were found inside a sports bag along Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping district on Sept. 9, while her torso was found at a nature park.

Aguilar, who was arrested within 12 hours of the gruesome discovery, will be subjected to psychiatric evaluation ahead of her murder trial.

The Aguilar case has sparked intense interest in the Philippines because of similarities with that of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic hanged here in 1995 for killing another Filipina maid, Delia Maga, and her Singaporean ward.

Tens of thousands of poor Filipinas work as maids in the wealthy city-state.

Contemplacion’s hanging strained bilateral ties, which have since been repaired. Both the Philippine and Singaporean governments have taken steps to prevent the Aguilar case from causing another diplomatic crisis.

On Saturday, the embassy organized a Roman Catholic memorial service for La Puebla attended by members of the Filipino community as well as the suspect’s husband in a gesture of reconciliation between their families.

Tears flowed at the memorial Mass attended by dozens of Filipinos – including Edwin Aguilar, the accused killer’s husband, who sat next to the victim’s husband Crusaldo La Puebla in the chapel of the funeral home.