Singapore dismisses RP findings
Singapore dismisses RP findings
MANILA (Agencies): Philippine President Fidel Ramos called on Singapore yesterday to reopen its investigation into the double murder for which Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion was hanged.
He expressed "full confidence" in the integrity of a Manila inquiry that concluded she was unjustly executed.
Singapore has dismissed the conclusions of that inquiry as "utterly absurd".
Ramos said in a statement he had asked Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to reopen the case, saying it had "generated anger not only towards his government but also towards my administration, some Filipino officials and my own person".
Last month's execution has provoked intense Filipino anger and created a diplomatic rift between Singapore and the Philippines, the most serious between two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members since the alliance was formed in 1967.
A Manila radio commentator typified the popular Filipino response towards Singapore by denouncing it as an "island of pigs" for dismissing the findings of the Manila inquiry.
The Straits Times newspaper in Singapore called the Philippine commission's finding a "travesty of justice and fair play" but said it was not too late to open Filipino eyes to the truth.
Worried local opposition politicians in Singapore, saying both governments should show restraint, have urged the countries to refer the dispute to an impartial international tribunal.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo yesterday lashed at Singapore and said Manila stood by the report of the fact- finding body.
He described Singapore's reaction to the fact-finding body's report as "rather vociferous".
Inquiry
The inquiry ordered by Ramos said it found evidence that the 42-year-old mother of four was innocent of the double murder to which she confessed.
It also condemned Singapore as "a police state which tolerates, if not allows, the use of intimidation and torture in order to compel an accused individual to confess and incriminate himself".
In its response, Singapore said the inquiry's decision to "suppress" Contemplacion's repeated confessions in letters to relatives "betrays the commission's lack of integrity".
It also accused the inquiry, headed by a retired Supreme Court justice, of taking uncorroborated and hearsay evidence at face value.
Ramos on Monday suspended nine diplomats and officials involved in the case and ordered the preparation of criminal charges against them.
Filipino labor and leftwing groups, accusing Ramos of toadying to Singapore, said this was not enough and that he should make good an earlier pledge to break off diplomatic ties completely.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the country's biggest- selling newspapers, also insisted Ramos go through with the threat if it was shown Singapore had acted in bad faith.
"President Ramos must keep his promise and sever relations with that garrison island-state...," it said in an editorial.
Diplomatic and political analysts said the intemperate language of both the inquiry report and Singapore's response made it more difficult for the two countries to reach some sort of accommodation.
They also said Ramos could not afford to ignore local passions in the runup to legislative elections on May 8.
Political scientist and newspaper columnist Alex Magno said the Manila inquiry was seriously flawed and had thrown the ball into Ramos's lap.
The president now had to be careful to avoid "macho diplomacy", he said.
An ASEAN analyst said Singapore's response had some validity but should have been more diplomatically phrased.
"The problem now is Ramos is caught in the middle and has very little room to maneuver," he said.