S'pore pledges to reopen Flor Contemplacion case
S'pore pledges to reopen Flor Contemplacion case
SINGAPORE (AFP): The Singapore government has pledged to reopen the case of hanged Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion if she is proved innocent of killing a compatriot.
A foreign ministry statement issued late Sunday said that if Singapore and Filipino pathologists are unable to reconcile differences over the 1991 killing of Della Maga, the dispute could be referred to a panel of neutral experts.
If the third-party panel confirms Filipino findings that Contemplacion could not possibly have killed Maga, "the Singapore government will re-open the case of Flor Contemplacion," the statement said.
Contemplacion, a 42-year-old mother of four, was executed here March 17 after being convicted of killing fellow maid Maga and her four-year-old Singapore charge, sparking a diplomatic row between Singapore and the Philippines.
The hanging led to massive anti-Singapore protests in the Philippines, where many believe Contemplacion was innocent, prompting President Fidel Ramos to downgrade relations with this city-state.
Filipino experts who studied Maga's exhumed remains said she could not possibly have been killed by Contemplacion, and that she was bludgeoned by someone stronger, probably a man and a martial arts expert.
Singapore has dismissed their findings, saying the original autopsy conducted by its own experts found no physical injuries on Maga of the kind reported by the Filipino pathologists.
The foreign ministry statement said Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had written to Ramos on April 12 that two Singapore forensic experts will go to Manila to join Philippine counterparts in an examination of Maga's remains.
The Singapore pathologists, Chao Tzee Cheng and Wee Keng Poh of the Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine here, performed the original autopsy on Maga.
They will be accompanied by three U.S. forensic experts when they reach Manila tomorrow.
The case files of the U.S. experts -- Cyril Wecht, Michael Baden and William Maples -- include such famous people as U.S. president John F. Kennedy, black civil rights leader Martin Luther King and rock and roll star Elvis Presley.
The all-American panel was chosen after Ramos said he preferred non-Commonwealth experts, the foreign ministry said. Singapore is a part of the British Commonwealth.
Goh wrote to Ramos that Singapore would have preferred that the joint examination be held in a neutral venue such as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the foreign ministry said. Wecht works at the St. Francis Central Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Goh cited concerns for the Singapore pathologists' safety in the Philippines and worries that the emotionally-charged atmosphere in Manila could not be conducive to a "cool, calm and dispassionate analysis of the remains."
"Also, they might need access to highly specialized equipment which might not be available in Manila," the statement said.
But Goh accepted Manila as the venue after Ramos assured protection for the Singapore pathologists and promised the full cooperation of the Philippine authorities, it said.
"The experts from both countries will endeavor through their best efforts to reconcile the different findings of the Philippines NBI (National Bureau of Investigations) and those of the Singapore pathologists during this visit," it said.
"Should they be unable to reconcile their different findings, the Philippine and Singapore governments will consult again on the subsequent steps that need to be taken, namely implementation of the agreement on a neutral third party panel of forensic experts ... ," the statement added.