RP pledges support to drug suspect

RP pledges support to drug suspect

MANILA (DPA): The Philippine government pledged on Wednesday
to provide full legal and financial assistance to a 32-year-old
Filipina facing the possibility of a death penalty in Singapore
for drug possession charges.

Presidential spokesman Jerry Barican said Sally Tigue, an
over-staying tourist who has admitted keeping drugs in an
apartment she shared with her Singaporean boyfriend, will be
treated as an overseas Filipina worker.

The government is hoping to prevent a repeat of the execution
of a Filipina maid for murder in 1995, which soured relations
between the Philippines and Singapore after the city-state
ignored appeals for clemency or a reinvestigation of the case.

Tigue and her Singaporean boyfriend were arrested Nov. 27 at
their apartment, where police seized 456.18 grams of
metamphetamine hydrochloride or "ice" and paraphernalia used for
concocting different types of the narcotic.