Ramos to ask Singapore to reopen case<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday suspended an
\nambassador and fired another for allegedly failing to help Flor
\nContemplacion, the Filipina maid executed in Singapore on March
\n17, and said he would ask Singapore to reopen her case.<\/p>\n
A cabinet meeting was being held late yesterday at which Ramos
\nsaid he would decide the fate of two cabinet members -- including
\nForeign Secretary Roberto Romulo -- who have also been accused of
\nneglecting Contemplacion's fate.<\/p>\n
But the president's press secretary Jesus Sison, later said
\nRamos' decision would not be announced until today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Ramos however stopped short of carrying out an earlier threat
\nto sever ties with Singapore if a special investigative panel he
\nset up found Contemplacion to have been wrongfully hanged.<\/p>\n
In its report released Saturday, the commission concluded that
\nContemplacion was \"a victim of injustice\" and charged that
\nPhilippine diplomats in Singapore did not do enough to help her.<\/p>\n
Ramos, speaking at a nationally televised news conference,
\nsuspended the ambassador to Singapore, Alicia Ramos (no
\nrelation), along with seven other Singapore-based diplomats for
\n\"neglect of duty, inefficiency and incompetence in the
\nperformance of official functions.\"<\/p>\n
He also accepted the resignation of Alicia Ramos' predecessor
\nin Singapore, Francisco Benedicto, a political appointee who is
\nnow ambassador to Seoul.<\/p>\n
The office of the Ombudsman has been asked to \"consider
\ncriminal prosecution\" against these officials as well as two
\nformer administrators of the Overseas Workers' Welfare
\nAdministration for alleged failure to assist Contemplacion, Ramos
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A late-night cabinet meeting would decide the political fate
\nof Romulo and Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor, he said.<\/p>\n
Ramos said he would first invite two Singaporean forensic
\nspecialists to come to the Philippines to perform another autopsy
\non Delia Maga, one of the two people Contemplacion was convicted
\nof killing.<\/p>\n
\"I will pursue such representations as may be necessary with
\nthe government of Singapore, for a joint and coordinated effort
\nto reopen the investigation of the killing of Delia Maga,\"
\ndepending on the results of the suggested autopsy, Ramos said.<\/p>\n
He had called the press conference to comment on the report of
\nthe special commission he created last month to investigate the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
Contemplacion was hanged in Singapore for the 1991 murder of
\nMaga and Maga's Singaporean charge, a four-year old boy.<\/p>\n
Even though she made several admissions of guilt, many
\nFilipinos insist she was innocent and was tortured into making a
\nconfession.<\/p>\n
Massive protests have been staged in Manila against Singapore
\nfor alleged injustice, and the Ramos government -- facing
\ncongressional and local elections on May 8 -- has also come under
\nfire.<\/p>\n
The commission cited the testimony of a Filipino medical-legal
\ninvestigator, that Maga's remains show she was killed by a
\npowerful man, a finding that apparently contradicted the results
\nof an autopsy in Singapore that led to Contemplacion's
\nconviction.<\/p>\n
The commission also virtually accused the wealthy island-state
\nof using torture and drugs to force Contemplacion to admit to her
\nguilt.<\/p>\n
Singapore has insisted that Contemplacion's confession as well
\nas their autopsy of Maga, show she was guilty and have said that
\nthe Filipino medical-legal investigator's findings are flawed.<\/p>\n
Ramos said if another autopsy by the Singaporean experts still
\nconflicted with the Philippines' findings, he would seek to have
\nanother autopsy conducted by a third party.<\/p>\n
Alicia Ramos and the other diplomats were recalled to Manila
\nlast month when the furor over Contemplacion broke out, resulting
\nin the downgrading of ties between Singapore and the Philippines.<\/p>",
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