Ramos acts against S'pore to survive<\/p>\n
By Cecil Morella<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): The last time the Philippines worked itself up
\nto a fury over a corpse, a president was toppled. So Fidel Ramos
\nwas taking no chances when he yanked bilateral ties close to the
\nbreaking point after Singapore hanged a Filipina maid.<\/p>\n
Manila downgraded diplomatic ties and threatened to cut them
\noff, canceled official visits, warned its nationals from
\ntraveling to its neighbor and refused to punish Singapore flag-
\nburners after being stung by a powerful public backlash against
\nthe execution.<\/p>\n
\"In a manner totally unexpected, Flor Contemplacion's case has
\nbecome a major issue in the May 1995 elections,\" said sociologist
\nRandolf David of the University of the Philippines. \"Almost every
\ncandidate in the present campaign has expressed a view on the
\ntragedy.\"<\/p>\n
To foreign eyes, President Ramos courted disaster by
\nantagonizing the sixth largest employer of overseas Filipinos, a
\nmajor trading partner and a key ally in the Association of
\nSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN). But analysts here say the
\ngesture made perfect political sense.<\/p>\n
\"Ramos gets tough,\" trumpeted the Philippine press Thursday
\nafter having roundly criticized him for his lack of \"spine.\"<\/p>\n
Political analysts say Ramos' actions were dictated by the
\ndynamics of the ongoing campaign: He needs to secure a majority
\nin the chronically obstructionist congress to ensure the passage
\nof his reformist policies for the last three years of his term.<\/p>\n
Amando Doronila wrote in the Philippine Inquirer newspaper
\nthat the execution had \"damaged the administration's electoral
\nchances,\" which rested on Ramos' track record of having revived a
\nmoribund economy, and had \"handed a windfall to the opposition.\"<\/p>\n
The condemned maid had confessed to the 1991 murder of a
\nfellow Filipina maid and a Singapore toddler, but most Filipinos
\ncharge the confession was extracted through torture, and
\nSingapore's rejection of last-minute appeals to consider new
\nevidence rankled.<\/p>\n
\"Ramos should be on the side of the public on this case
\nbecause the very basis of his legitimacy rests on the support of
\nthe people,\" said Noel Morada, ASEAN expert of the Institute for
\nStrategic and Development Studies.<\/p>\n
Filipinos are steeped in the powerful symbolism of corpses.<\/p>\n
The 1983 assassination by soldiers and police of opposition
\nleader Benigno Aquino sparked a national upheaval which led to
\nthe toppling of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.<\/p>\n
The maid's hanging cut to the bone because up to 7.7 percent
\nof the population, by official estimates, are employed abroad.<\/p>\n
Ramos says a fifth of the population depend on their earnings.
\n\"The export of human beings no longer appears as just a short-
\nterm coping mechanism of a beleaguered economy. It has become
\nmanifestly the principal feature of our economic strategy,\" said
\nDavid.<\/p>\n
\"We tend to assuage our collective guilt as a nation by
\nattaching to these Filipino compatriots the empty label 'our
\nmodern heroes,'\" he added.<\/p>\n
Doronila said the case \"shows up the fragility of the fabric
\nof ASEAN political cohesion that is increasingly being frayed by
\ndifferences in political and legal systems,\" and noted that the
\nauthoritarian senior leader of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, has been
\na frequent critic of Philippine democracy.<\/p>\n
Morada said he did not think ASEAN, grouping Brunei,
\nIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will
\n\"disintegrate,\" but that \"this is a test case\" on regional
\ncohesion.<\/p>\n
\"The other ASEAN nations are watching developments,\" he said,
\nnoting that Jakarta and Bangkok, among others also have many
\nworkers in Singapore.<\/p>",
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