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SCMP Reporter

MANILA: Singapore, seeking to placate Philippine anger over the hanging of Flor Contemplacion, yesterday agreed to re-open its investigation into the double murder for which she was executed.

  President Fidel Ramos said Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong gave his agreement in a telephone conversation yesterday evening.

  Mr Goh also yielded to Manila's request for a revamp of the Singaporean Embassy in Manila to 'assure more effective rapport' by recalling Singaporean Ambassador Tan Seng Chye, Mr Ramos said in a statement.

  Last month's execution has provoked intense Filipino anger and created a diplomatic rift between Singapore and the Philippines.

  Contemplacion, a 42-year-old mother of four, was hanged for the killing of another Filipino maid, Della Maga, and a Singaporean boy in 1991.

  Although she confessed to the murders, many Filipinos believe Contemplacion was innocent and tortured into admitting the crime.

  A presidential commission formed by Mr Ramos exhumed the remains of Maga and said it found evidence she might have been killed by a man.

  Singapore on Monday rejected the commission's findings and accused it of being one-sided.

  'Prime Minister Goh and I . . . agreed to authorise our respective foreign ministers to work out soonest the procedures for the re-examination of the remains of the late Della Maga by Singapore and Philippine forensic experts in order to arrive at the truth and serve the ends of justice,' Mr Ramos said yesterday.

  He said Mr Goh informed him Singapore had recalled Mr Tan 'as a positive gesture to my request for the [envoy's] replacement'.

  Mr Tan, who was summoned home last month for consultations but later resumed his post in Manila, left for Singapore last night.

  Earlier yesterday, media reports in the two countries blasted or defended Singapore's rejection of the Philippine commission's findings.

  Singapore's Government said the commission's findings were 'completely unfounded' and based on 'nothing more than uncorroborated or hearsay testimonies'.

  It criticised the commission for ignoring 'crucial information and evidence submitted by the Singapore Government' and for garnishing its report 'with highly coloured fantasy descriptions of Singapore society'.

  The commission's report had condemned Singapore as 'a police state which tolerates, if not allows, the use of intimidation and torture in order to compel an accused individual to confess and incriminate himself'.

  A Philippine radio commentator yesterday denounced Singapore as an 'island of pigs' and many newspapers published scathing editorials.

  Philippine Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo described Singapore's reaction as 'vociferous', but said it was entitled to its opinions.

  'I believe it would be counter-productive to conduct this dialogue through the instrumentality of press releases,' he said.

  Singapore's Straits Times newspaper called the Philippine commission finding on Contemplacion a 'travesty of justice and fair play', but said it was not too late to open Filipino eyes to the truth.

  'The two governments owe it to their people, and to Mrs Maga as well as Nicholas Huang, to get to the bottom of it all,' the newspaper, which usually reflects a pro-government line, said in an editorial.

  The opposition Singapore Democratic Party said it had written to Mr Goh and Mr Ramos 'to urge both governments to show restraint'.

  On Monday, Mr Ramos fired the former ambassador to Singapore and suspended the current envoy and seven other officials.

  He also ordered government prosecutors to consider criminal charges against the two ambassadors and the other officials as well as two former heads of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration for negligence and incompetence.

   Filipina maid Sarah Balabagan, 16, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty at Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates to the manslaughter of her employer, saying she acted in self-defence when he tried to rape her. Philippine legal and government officials are attending to ensure a fair trial. She faces life in prison if convicted.



Singapore to reopen maid case