Filipina maid inherits millions from Singaporean employer
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By Agence France Presse
A devoted Filipina maid inherited six million Singapore dollars (more than $4 million) from her late employer after more than 20 years of service, a newspaper report said Wednesday.
“I am the luckiest maid in Singapore, with or without the money,” the 47-year-old single woman — identified only by the pseudonym “Christine” — told the Straits Times in an interview.
The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.
The windfall, including cash and a luxury apartment near the Orchard Road shopping belt, came from the estate of her employer Quek Kai Miew, a medical doctor and philanthropist who died last year at 66.
The maid had also taken care of the doctor’s late mother, and was told that she would be a beneficiary of her employer’s will when it was drawn up in 2008.
“There were no secrets between us. I was not surprised at all when she told me how much I was going to get,” the maid recalled.
“Christine” was devastated when Quek died a year ago, as the two were inseparable, and temporarily moved in with the doctor’s nephew for solace.
“It was heartbreaking for me as I saw more years with Doctor Quek than with my own mother. I would break down every time I thought about her. I could not be by myself,” she said.
“I was always beside her. Wherever she went, I was with her.”
The maid, who is now applying for permanent residency in Singapore, said her newfound wealth had not changed her lifestyle.
“I do not really think much about the money I got. I just live my life as I did before, and not as a rich person,” the maid, dressed simply in a blouse and slacks with short-cropped hair, was quoted as saying.
“I am still who I was before. I cannot behave differently because I have money now. Even my Filipino maid friends here still treat me the same.”
Nearly 200,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, work in affluent Singapore, which has a population of five million.
lianadelapaz on July 21, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I WOULD LIKE TO SEND MY DISMAY WITH THE REASON WHY THE MAID DOESNT WANT TO BE PUBLICLY NAMED. DON’T GENERALIZE THE SITUATION THAT WEALTHY PEOPLE ARE ABDUCTED AND KILLED IN THE PHILIPPINES. I KNOW A NUMBER OF PEOPLE FAR MORE WEALTHIER THAN THIS FILIPINA MAID WHO ARE LIVING PEACEFULLY HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES
THEY LIVE MODEST LIVES AND ARE NOT SHOWY, JUST BE LIKE THIS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND YOU WILL ENJOY LIVING YOUR RICHES HERE IN YOUR HOME LAND
lianadelapaz on July 21, 2010 at 1:43 pm
AND IF THIS FILIPINA MAID FEAR FOR HER LIFE THEN STAY AWAY FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND BE A SINGAPOREAN AS YOU WISH.
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 1:49 pm
The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductor <——— DID THIS PRESUMPTION COME FROM A RESPECTABLE CREATURE?…are there real editors here?
an arc on July 21, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Agence France Presse—have you been in the Philippines?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 1:53 pm
why did she tell the press that she got the money? so that people will know?
charmmartinez on July 21, 2010 at 1:54 pm
dickhead. .
an arc on July 21, 2010 at 1:54 pm
hey yahoo! phil, don’t post stupid news like this…if they don’t want the Philippines,stay away,we don’t need them!
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 1:54 pm
now that it is public, she wants to hide? is there any sense in this?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 1:57 pm
did the information about kidnapping in the philippines come from the maid? is this responsible reporting?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 1:59 pm
is agence france presse stupid? or the french are just stupid?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:00 pm
does agence france presse know that this will be posted in yahoo philippines? or they are just too stupid to know?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:00 pm
was it a maid? or was it a french maid?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:04 pm
can morons run a news agency? maybe in france?
tram75 on July 21, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.”
what kind of reporting is this? This is a glaring case of irresponsible journalism. Why generalize? I expected something more from the AFP. This is totally unacceptable.
4bandong on July 21, 2010 at 2:10 pm
She must have killed her employer.
She feels that way for her homeland and she only have $4Million?
Bitch@#$%*&!!!
Homar Murillo on July 21, 2010 at 2:11 pm
to lianadelapaz: yes, it’s true that there are filipinos living peacefully here in RP who are much wealthier than the maid mentioned in this news. however, most of them need bodyguards or they carry guns. that tells something about the situation here. however, i do not agree with the hasty generalization of the report: “the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.”
4bandong on July 21, 2010 at 2:13 pm
“I am still who I was before.” . . .
Are you this dumb and arrogant as before? I guess.
alopupuli on July 21, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Sad but true.
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:18 pm
little minds in media makes monsters. Money in the hands of little minds makes monsters too………
4bandong on July 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm
@homar Those who have bodyguards and carry guns here in the Philippines are either arrogant politicians or opportunist businessmen. I know people in Forbes, Greenhills and Corinthians but they live just like me, free of guns and bodyguards.
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm
@alopupuli = can morons be sad? are you a moron alopupuli?
mikonawa on July 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm
So can you all personally guarantee her safety if she reveals her identity? Are you all 100% sure there won’t be any trouble for her?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:23 pm
@milkonawa = will the agency know if she did not say it? did she say it so that she won’t be known? did her interview put her in harms way? are you safe? do you know a place where you are 100% SAFE? can you guarantee anything mikonawa?
lieann03 on July 21, 2010 at 2:23 pm
free world in media right..?
but, have a little sense of respect, impoverished phil..?
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:25 pm
@liann03= free world in media right? do you know why we are here? why did you ask at all?
alopupuli on July 21, 2010 at 2:27 pm
@pedropenduko – open your eyes.
rtolentino on July 21, 2010 at 2:28 pm
It is true that wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some were killed by their abductors in our country. We don’t need to get angry. The question we should ask is “Did I help in some way, so that my country will not be called as such in the future?”…
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:29 pm
@alopupuli = what made you say they are closed? are yours open alopupuli?
renword on July 21, 2010 at 2:30 pm
it’s good that she did not divulge her name..honestly people it isn’t because she feared being kidnapped. there’s a worst faith than that for someone who got instantly rich..!
there would be a long line of relatives up to the next barrio from her house asking for a little bit of her wealth or in filipino..balato!!!
i believe she is more afraid of that! her relatives even ones she hasn’t met or isn’t really her relatives will have some sick story of hospital bills to pay..of a bright young niece to send to school.. it is good to help but if you are poor in the philippines and you instantly win the lotto..you don’t stay rich for long… and you will only have so much relatives while the money lasts but once the money is gone..the relatives will forget your name.
i think she is more afraid of this than anything else and has opted to stay in singapore because of so…
it is different if you are an ayala or a lopez…all your relatives are all rich anyway.. they won’t come begging at your doors. you don’t have to hide who you are cause everyone knows who you are… if someone needs money you have more than 4 million to give…you have body guards and such. old money is different from new money…in a sense there’s more security in it.
so let her stay in singapore..she will be happier there. after 20 years, she won’t know what the philippines is like, her friends would be there…and her country hasn’t done anything for her or her kind who got hanged…her loyalty will be there for her employer who gave her much.
pedropenduko on July 21, 2010 at 2:31 pm
@rtolentino= is that problem endemic in OUR country? what did you do “in some way” about this problem?