S'pore gives maid's autopsy report to RP

S'pore gives maid's autopsy report to RP

MANILA (AFP): Singapore has given the Philippines the results of an autopsy on a Filipina maid who fell to her death from a high-rise apartment, Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said yesterday.

The Dec. 7 death of Angelina Palaming, 28, initially ruled as a suicide, has cast a new cloud on the normalization of relations between the two countries, strained by the hanging in Singapore in March of another maid, Flor Contemplacion.

Siazon said the report was given to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). President Fidel Ramos ordered a probe into Palaming's death.

"As of this moment, the department is not in a position to state categorically what the cause of Ms. Palaming's death was," Siazon said in a statement, which added that the Singapore authorities had given "complete cooperation."

He later told reporters that "according to the autopsy conclusions, there was no trace of a struggle, there was no trace of sexual assault, and no toxic materials were found."

Palaming, who was found dead after she and her four-year-old ward fell from a ninth-story apartment. The child survived the fall.

Six days before her death, Palaming had gone to the Philippine mission to renew her passport. She informed the authorities that she planned to go home for the Chinese new year holidays in February, Siazon said.

The NBI cast doubt on the cause of death of Delia Maga, a Filipina maid allegedly killed by Contemplacion, whose death sentence for the murder of Maga and a four year old boy sparked protests in the Philippines.

Many people in the Philippines believed she was innocent, prompting Ramos to downgrade ties with Singapore.

The two countries have moved to put the controversy behind them and repair ties, with Ramos and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong deciding recently to exchange ambassadors in two months.

But earlier yesterday, a militant labor organization urged the government to postpone the normalization of diplomatic ties, until the cause of Palaming's death was established.

But the Manila-based Migrante International said the new death "should first be investigated thoroughly" before the two countries resume full diplomatic relations.

It cited "conflicting reports" over the cause of death of Palaming, who was found dead after she and her four-year-old ward fell from a ninth-story apartment. The child survived the fall.