Hanged Filipina maid may have been "innocent": official

Hanged Filipina maid may have been "innocent": official

MANILA (AFP): The head of a Philippine government inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the hanging of a Filipina maid in Singapore said yesterday it had evidence that she may have been innocent.

"We are receiving evidence that Flor Contemplacion may not have committed the offense," said Emilio Gancayco, retired Supreme Court justice and head of the body investigating the March 17 hanging of Contemplacion, 42. He did not disclose the evidence.

Contemplacion's hanging has strained relations between the Philippines and Singapore and has enraged Filipinos, many of whom believe she was unjustly charged with strangling another Filipina maid, Delia Maga, and killing Maga's four-year old Singaporean ward.

Later yesterday, Philippines police contradicted a Singapore account that Maga was strangled.

After completing an autopsy on the exhumed corpse of Maga, who was murdered in 1991, investigators said she was bludgeoned to death.

Maximo Reyes, a senior medico-legal expert at the National Bureau of Investigation, said examination of Maga's skull, facial bones, neck, and ribcage showed a blunt instrument was used to kill the woman. The Singapore police had said she was strangled.

the fatal blows could have been inflicted by a man said Reyes before a presidential inquiry which ordered the exhumation of Maga's corpse last Tuesday

President Ramos, who has downgraded ties with Singapore, had said he would not hesitate to break ties with its southeast Asian neighbor if the inquiry established that Contemplacion was a victim of "injustice."

"Whatever the President decides to do, he may do based on our recommendation," Gancayco said.

The investigative body has about another week to consider the statements of witnesses and officials and to review documents turned over by Singaporean authorities concerning Contemplacion's case.

Gancayco also warned that results of the investigation "may seriously affect" officials who are found negligent of their duties in assisting Contemplacion and other workers with similar cases.

He also expressed disappointment with the refusal of the Contemplacion family and their lawyers to appear before the investigative body Wednesday, saying they were "delaying due process" in attaining justice for Contemplacion.