Philippines Foreign Secretary Resigns Hanging Of Filipina Maid Continues To Rock Government

Philippines Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo resigned Monday in the continuing furor over Manila’s handling of Singapore’s decision to hang a Filipina maid in a controversial murder case.

President Fidel Ramos told a news conference that he has not yet made up his mind whether also to accept the resignation of Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor in the same case.

The maid, Flor Contemplacion, was hanged in Singapore on March 17 after pleading guilty to the murder of another Filipina maid, Della Maga, and a 4-year-old Singaporean boy in Maga’s care.

The Philippine government had asked the Singapore authorities to postpone the hanging after another Filipina woman came forward with what she said was “new evidence” that Contemplacion had recanted her confession while in prison.

But the Singapore government went ahead with the execution, causing Ramos to lose face at home for appearing powerless to persuade the Singaporeans to delay implementing the death penalty.

Contemplacion’s case has stirred a huge outpouring of emotion in the Philippines because she has become a symbol of the 3 million Filipinos who work overseas, often under harsh conditions that involve beatings and other forms of mistreatment. They contribute more than $1 billion a year to the Philippines economy.

Ramos already has fired his ambassador in Singapore and seven other embassy officials for negligence and incompetence. The Singapore ambassador in the Philippines was recalled at Manila’s request.

Ramos appeared on national television and said he was accepting Romulo’s resignation with “deep regret.” He said he was naming Domingo Siazon, the country’s ambassador to Japan, to replace Romulo.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced that he has agreed to Ramos’ request to send two Singapore pathologists to the Philippines to re-examine the remains of the murdered maid.

Singapore’s forensic experts maintain that Maga was strangled. But an examination of her remains by the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation concluded she had been severely beaten by a person of such strength that Contemplacion could not have been the killer.

Goh had asked for the examination of the remains to occur in a neutral place because of concerns about the safety of the Singapore delegation. The Singapore Embassy in Manila has received numerous death threats.

If the Singaporean and Filipino pathologists still fail to agree on the cause of Maga’s death after the visit, they have agreed to refer the case to a third, neutral pathologist.

The case has severely strained relations between two key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, although passions appeared to be cooling with the most recent round of resignations.