SINGAPORE, March 17 -- A Filipina woman was hanged in Singapore Friday morning, despite the pleas of Philippine President Fidel Ramos, human rights lawyers and character witnesses. Flor Contemplacion, 42, was charged with the 1991 murders of a 4- year-old Singapore boy, Nicholas Huang, and his family's maid, Della Maga, 34. The Philippines government had stepped up efforts to seek a stay of execution in the face of mounting pressure from opposition leaders and non-government organizations. Ramos on March 11 sent a letter to Singapore president Ong Teng Cheong, asking for a stay of execution on the grounds that new evidence, which cast doubt on Contemplacion's guilt, had come to light. The new evidence consisted of a sworn statement given to Philippine police by Emilia Frenilla, another former Singapore maid, who said she had overheard a conversation in Singapore indicating that the deceased boy's father killed Maga. The father was enraged because the boy drowned in his bath during an epileptic seizure while under Maga's care, Frenilla said. The Singapore government Wednesday said in a news release it 'carefully investigated this evidence and found it to be untrue.' Huang's medical doctor confirmed the boy showed no signs of epilepsy, the government said. The Singapore govenment also pointed out that Contemplacion had repeatedly confessed to the killings and had led police to hidden jewelry and other valuables that had belonged to Maga. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday issued a statement saying 'the Singapore Embassy in the Philippines has received a number of threatening messages' which the Ministry said were apparently related to the Contemplacion case.
The Ministry urged Singaporeans traveling in the Philippines to register themselves with the Singapore embassy there. Singapore Airlines Wednesday confirmed it had received a bomb threat in Manila and searched its building in Manila. No evidence of a bomb was found, an airline spokesman said. The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Thursday asked U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Gali to demand that Singapore postpone the hanging, U.S. media reported Friday. Two Thai nationals and a Malaysian were also executed in Singapore Friday morning, all for marijuana trafficking. Singapore carries a mandatory death sentence for drug dealers and smugglers, and has has executed 102 people for drug-related offenses since the law was adopted in 1975.
