Goh puts off Manila visit over hanging
Goh puts off Manila visit over hanging
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday announced he was postponing a visit to the Philippines as his government stoutly defended its controversial execution of a Filipina despite pleas for mercy from Manila.
The Singapore foreign ministry said in a statement that Singapore and the Philippines had agreed that the visit scheduled for April 10-12 be put off to a date to be confirmed later.
Goh was to have gone to Manila at the invitation of President Fidel Ramos to underscore expanding bilateral economic links following a similar visit to the Philippines last month by President Ong Teng Cheong, analysts said.
But the hanging of 42-year-old Flor Contemplacion despite an appeal by Ramos and other Philippine activists for a stay of execution, sparked anti-Singapore protests in Manila and threats against Singaporeans and their property in the Philippines.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo, meanwhile, called for an independent commission to investigate charges that the Department of Foreign Affairs had mishandled the Contemplacion case.
Analysts said the issue could strain Manila's ties with its partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Singapore is the second leading ASEAN investor in the Philippines, pouring in US$63.20 million in 1994. The 60,200 Filipino workers in Singapore sent back $90.9 million last year, officials said.
Singapore on Saturday dismissed as "pure fabrication" claims by another Filipina that Contemplacion was innocent of the 1991 double murder of another maid, Della Maga, 34 and Maga's five- year-old charge.
The ministry of home affairs, in a statement, accused the woman, Virginia Parumog, 21, of making unfounded allegations and fabricating evidence to justify the abortive bid by Filipino activists to stop Contemplacion's hanging.
Parumog, who the statement said was arrested in Singapore for prostitution, flew to the city-state hours before Friday's execution and told police she believed Contemplacion was innocent despite confessing to the killings.
But her claims did not stop the execution and Contemplacion was led to the gallows at the high-security Changi Prison as Parumog wept outside the prison gates where she kept vigil with a small group of Filipino lawyers and friends.
The home ministry dismissed Parumog's claim that Contemplacion was framed by Maga's employer who she alleged killed Maga after finding his son, Nicholas Huang, drowned.
"These claims are pure fabrication," the ministry said. It added that Contemplacion made four statements to police voluntarily admitting the two murders with a Filipino embassy official as interpreter.
Parumog's claim that Contemplacion vehemently denied all charges against her while the two women were in jail was "utterly false," the ministry said.
The ministry also dismissed claims by Parumog that Contemplacion was "made to undergo electric shocks consisting of small wires attached to her head" and "given some sort of capsule" every time she went to court.
"These are also untrue," it said, adding that Contemplacion was given two Electro-Enchephalogram tests during which wire leads were placed on her head to monitor brain activity. One test was ordered by her defense psychiatrist.
"These test were neither painful nor do they involve electic shocks," the ministry said.
The ministry said that Contemplacion was given medicine for headaches and sore-throat during imprisonment but received no medication during her trial.
It said that Parumog's allegations were "wild and baseless" without regard to the truth.
"In all this controversy stirred up, one thing was completely missed: that two persons were brutally murdered, a Singapore woman and ... a Singapore child," the ministry said.
Amelita Ramos, wife of President Ramos, was among hundreds of people at Manila airport on Saturday for the return of Contemplacion's body.
Singapore -- Page 14