S'pore-RP relations improve amid rift

S'pore-RP relations improve amid rift

By Cecil Morella

MANILA (AFP): A Singapore-Philippines autopsy on the remains
of a murdered Filipina failed to reach a consensus on who killed
her, but the joint effort itself is evidence that ties between
the countries are on the mend, an analyst said yesterday.

The Philippines downgraded relations with Singapore following
the hanging there of Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion for the
murder of Delia Maga and her young Singapore charge, a murder
Philippine medical examiners later said she could not have
committed.

But Singaporean and American examiners, who conducted a new
autopsy Wednesday with Philippine experts, upheld Singapore's
original findings.

"There is no question that Flor Contemplacion could have done
it," said Michael Baden, director of the Forensic Sciences Unit
of the New York State Police who was brought into the case by
Singapore.

Neither government has commented on the result of the joint
examination, but Maga's remains are now expected to be examined
by third-party experts in accordance with a prior agreement by
the two governments. Singapore has said it would reopen the case
if the third-party experts agreed with Manila.

"The issue will be prolonged, but I don't think this will
remain on a crisis level," said Julius Caesar Parrenas of the
Institute for International and Strategic Studies (IISS), a
Manila-based think tank focused on regional issues.

"The issue has been overtaken by newer headlines. It will
slide down in the priority of public attention in the next few
weeks -- whatever the outcome," he told AFP.

He said the two countries were "trying very hard to keep
relations on an even keel throughout the crisis," and that both
were hopeful that the issue would eventually "blow over."

A powerful public backlash in the Philippines, where
Contemplacion is now elevated to martyr status, brought bilateral
ties to an all-time low with Manila downgrading its embassy and
Singapore being forced to recall its own ambassador at Ramos'
request.

The Philippines government also sacked and recalled diplomats
for mishandling the case and Foreign Minister Roberto Romulo
resigned under pressure.

Political science professor Alexander Magno of the state
University of the Philippines wrote in the Manila Standard
newspaper yesterday that Ramos' actions were meant to "protect
his own political position" ahead of the May 8 congressional and
local elections.

But Parrenas of IISS argued the controversy would not affect
the outcome of the polls "because it is very hard to pin down the
blame on anyone."

At issue at Wednesday's autopsy were Manila's assertions that
Maga's ribs were fractured prior to death, and that the skull and
ribs showed evidence she had been bludgeoned immediately before
her death.

Singaporean experts maintained that damage and evidence
uncovered by Philippines experts may have been due to
decomposition, and they stood pat on the initial 1991 police
autopsy that ruled Maga had been strangled.

The Filipino experts were unable to refute their Singapore
counterparts' assertion that Maga's skull and shoulder blades
suffered no fractures, and that she had suffered asphyxia due to
strangulation.

The Philippine position was further undermined by the
statements of the three American experts, brought over as
consultants by Singapore, which fully supported the latter's
findings.

A fact-finding body formed by Ramos to look into the
Contemplacion-Maga case had argued that prior to the
strangulation, Maga was attacked by somebody much stronger than
she was -- probably a man skilled in martial arts.