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.