RP to normalize ties with S'pore

RP to normalize ties with S'pore

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday said the
Philippines was taking steps to normalize relations with
Singapore after the apparent settlement of the dispute over
executed Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion.

Ramos told a press conference that the Philippines "has
started to take steps to normalize its relations with Singapore."

He said the moves came after the results of a third-party
autopsy in the United States which supported Singapore's
contention that Contemplacion had murdered her fellow Filipina
maid Delia Maga in Singapore in 1991.

Ties between the two countries were downgraded after
Contemplacion was hanged in Singapore in March for the murder of
Maga and a Singaporean toddler.

Many Filipinos insisted that Contemplacion was innocent,
staging massive protests on her behalf. Their calls were
bolstered by the conclusion of Philippine pathologists that Maga
had been beaten, probably by a man, and not strangled by
Contemplacion as the Singaporeans had said.