S'pore-RP relations improve amid rift<\/p>\n
By Cecil Morella<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): A Singapore-Philippines autopsy on the remains
\nof a murdered Filipina failed to reach a consensus on who killed
\nher, but the joint effort itself is evidence that ties between
\nthe countries are on the mend, an analyst said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Philippines downgraded relations with Singapore following
\nthe hanging there of Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion for the
\nmurder of Delia Maga and her young Singapore charge, a murder
\nPhilippine medical examiners later said she could not have
\ncommitted.<\/p>\n
But Singaporean and American examiners, who conducted a new
\nautopsy Wednesday with Philippine experts, upheld Singapore's
\noriginal findings.<\/p>\n
\"There is no question that Flor Contemplacion could have done
\nit,\" said Michael Baden, director of the Forensic Sciences Unit
\nof the New York State Police who was brought into the case by
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
Neither government has commented on the result of the joint
\nexamination, but Maga's remains are now expected to be examined
\nby third-party experts in accordance with a prior agreement by
\nthe two governments. Singapore has said it would reopen the case
\nif the third-party experts agreed with Manila.<\/p>\n
\"The issue will be prolonged, but I don't think this will
\nremain on a crisis level,\" said Julius Caesar Parrenas of the
\nInstitute for International and Strategic Studies (IISS), a
\nManila-based think tank focused on regional issues.<\/p>\n
\"The issue has been overtaken by newer headlines. It will
\nslide down in the priority of public attention in the next few
\nweeks -- whatever the outcome,\" he told AFP.<\/p>\n
He said the two countries were \"trying very hard to keep
\nrelations on an even keel throughout the crisis,\" and that both
\nwere hopeful that the issue would eventually \"blow over.\"<\/p>\n
A powerful public backlash in the Philippines, where
\nContemplacion is now elevated to martyr status, brought bilateral
\nties to an all-time low with Manila downgrading its embassy and
\nSingapore being forced to recall its own ambassador at Ramos'
\nrequest.<\/p>\n
The Philippines government also sacked and recalled diplomats
\nfor mishandling the case and Foreign Minister Roberto Romulo
\nresigned under pressure.<\/p>\n
Political science professor Alexander Magno of the state
\nUniversity of the Philippines wrote in the Manila Standard
\nnewspaper yesterday that Ramos' actions were meant to \"protect
\nhis own political position\" ahead of the May 8 congressional and
\nlocal elections.<\/p>\n
But Parrenas of IISS argued the controversy would not affect
\nthe outcome of the polls \"because it is very hard to pin down the
\nblame on anyone.\"<\/p>\n
At issue at Wednesday's autopsy were Manila's assertions that
\nMaga's ribs were fractured prior to death, and that the skull and
\nribs showed evidence she had been bludgeoned immediately before
\nher death.<\/p>\n
Singaporean experts maintained that damage and evidence
\nuncovered by Philippines experts may have been due to
\ndecomposition, and they stood pat on the initial 1991 police
\nautopsy that ruled Maga had been strangled.<\/p>\n
The Filipino experts were unable to refute their Singapore
\ncounterparts' assertion that Maga's skull and shoulder blades
\nsuffered no fractures, and that she had suffered asphyxia due to
\nstrangulation.<\/p>\n
The Philippine position was further undermined by the
\nstatements of the three American experts, brought over as
\nconsultants by Singapore, which fully supported the latter's
\nfindings.<\/p>\n
A fact-finding body formed by Ramos to look into the
\nContemplacion-Maga case had argued that prior to the
\nstrangulation, Maga was attacked by somebody much stronger than
\nshe was -- probably a man skilled in martial arts.<\/p>",
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