Singapore: Filipino maid suspect getting fair treatment

The Singaporean government said the Filipino maid who allegedly killed and dismembered a fellow Filipina domestic worker has been treated fairly by the city-state’s justice system, after the defendant’s family claimed she was framed.

"Guen Garlejo Aguilar is treated no differently from any other suspect... who has been charged with a similar offense," the home affairs ministry said Wednesday.

A Singaporean court has permitted police to hold Aguilar, 29, for a week without access to a lawyer or her family.

"Immediate access to legal counsel and her family members is presently not allowed so as not to compromise the ongoing investigations," the ministry said in a statement.

Aguilar is accused of killing her compatriot, Jane Parangan La Puebla, 26, last Wednesday, chopping up her body, and disposing of the parts in plastic bags along Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping district on Sept. 9. A torso suspected to be La Puebla’s was later found at a nature park. Aguilar was charged on Sunday.

Aguilar’s family said she was framed and appealed to President Arroyo on Tuesday to save her from a possible death sentence.

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore has hired a Singaporean lawyer, Shashi Nathan, to assist Aguilar. Nathan said he would apply for access to his client today when she makes her next court appearance. He said he did not expect her to enter a plea.

The suspect’s husband, Edwin, left Manila yesterday for the city-state to attend his wife’s trial. Before this, he visited the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Pasay City for a brief meeting with DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jose Brillantes.

Clad in blue shirt and denims and sporting a striped cap, Edwin was shy around the media. With a rosary wrapped around his wrist, Edwin said he has not had much sleep since the murder was reported.

Philippine Ambassador Belen Anota, meanwhile, appealed yesterday for sobriety amid the intense attention the case is drawing here because of parallels with the hanging of another maid in Singapore a decade ago, a case that seriously damaged bilateral ties between the two countries.

At a briefing for visiting Filipino journalists and the Filipino community in Singapore, Anota called on everyone "not to come to rash conclusions on the basis of media reports or stories being circulated around."

"Let’s all exercise patience and let us allow the wheels of justice to run its course. Singapore has its own legal and judicial system. Since we have chosen to work and live in Singapore, then we must abide by Singapore’s rules and regulations."

Edwin has said he does not believe a love triangle supposedly involving a Singaporean taxi driver led to La Puebla’s tragic death.

On Wednesday, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said an unpaid "five-six" loan — a debt payment system popular among Filipinos — may have been the motive for La Puebla’s murder, but he did not say "who owed whom."

In a related development, the family of La Puebla has asked the DFA to go to Singapore to collect the remains of their loved one.

DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque, however, said the family was advised to wait for the right time since police are still investigating the case, including the conduct of an autopsy.

Brillantes assured that the Philippine government had asked Singapore to return the body as soon as the investigation is concluded.

A pathologist and an Interpol official of the National Bureau of Investigation will be sent to Singapore at the soonest possible time to observe the autopsy of the remains, NBI Interpol Division chief Ricardo Diaz said yesterday.

Diaz said his second-in-command, Executive Officer Claro de Castro Jr., and bureau pathologist Cesar Visguera will also be accompanied by a neurologist from the Philippine General Hospital. — AP, AFP, Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan, Edu Punay