Manila, S'pore to sign relations
pact
Straits Times. Nov 13, 1997
BY Luz Baguioro in Manila
THE Philippines and Singapore have agreed to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement envisioned to strengthen relations that had been marred by the execution of a Filipino maid two years ago.
The "Philippines-Singapore Action Plan" will be signed by President Fidel Ramos and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on the sidelines of the Nov 25 summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders in Vancouver.
"We have lost time because of the Contemplacion affair, and there is very keen desire on both sides to try and make up for that," Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon told the Straits Times.
The pact encompasses all aspects of bilateral cooperation, and aims to promote closer economic, tourism, political, defence and cultural links between the two countries.
Mr Siazon said the the basic objective was to generate jobs and increase trade. "The relationship is symbiotic; it's based on mutual support," he added.
He said that under the agreement, Singapore would commit itself to providing capital and technology to establish port facilities and industrial estates for Singapore firms which want to locate here. Both countries will also vow to pool efforts in wooing tourists, and encourage joint ventures in putting up hotels and resorts.
On the defence front, they envision dialogues among officials, joint military exercises and joint production and development of some equipment. "On the political side, we would like greater cooperation in terms of multilateral efforts," Mr Siazon said.
He stressed that the agreement contained no provision for an "open-skies" arrangement sought by Singapore.
During bilateral air talks last September, the Philippines had rejected the proposal to forge an open-skies pact with Singapore, saying that full deregulation at this time would only kill local carriers.
Trade and business ties froze following the diplomatic fallout from the hanging of Filipino maid Flor Contemplacion in 1995 following her conviction on double-murder charges. It took more than a year for ties to mend, and PM Goh's visit to Manila last June was expected to open a new chapter in diplomatic relations.
Now that relations have normalised, officials from both countries said they expected business and economic ties to pick up.
Two-way trade surged 21 per cent to US$3.7 billion (S$5.73 billion) last year. Singapore investments soared from US$3.6 million in 1995 to US$28.6 million last year.