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.