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.