RP seeks protection for maids in Singapore

MANILA (Reuter): Singapore and the Philippines will confer this month on how to protect the 65,000 Filipinos, mostly maids, working in Singapore, Philippines Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said on Tuesday.

Officials said the Philippines wanted to prevent repetition of the controversy over Singapore's execution of Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion, after which Manila withdrew its ambassador.

Siazon said a Philippine official delegation would leave for Singapore later this month for talks on setting up a "grievance mechanism" and improving documentation procedures "to lower the vulnerability" of Filipino workers.

Contemplacion was hanged in Singapore in March for the 1991 murder of Filipina maid Delia Maga and a Singaporean boy.

Although Contemplacion confessed to the murders, her execution provoked widespread protests in the Philippines because many Filipinos believe she was the innocent victim of frame-up.

President Fidel Ramos agreed last month to take steps to normalise ties with Singapore after an autopsy by a panel of American experts supported conclusions by Singaporean scientists pointing to Contemplacion as the killer.

"Relations between Singapore and the Philippines should not be at the risk of being broken everytime you have a particular labour-related case," Siazon told reporters.

In the meantime, a ban on sending women workers to Singapore would stay in force, he said.

Ramos imposed the ban after Contemplacion was executed.

A new Philippine ambassador to Singapore will be named "as soon as possible", Siazon said.