Philippine Official Quits Over Execution : Asia: Critics fault Manila government for failing to deter maid’s hanging in Singapore.

A bitter, monthlong dispute over Singapore’s hanging of a Philippine maid claimed its first Cabinet casualty Monday when Philippine Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo resigned and accepted responsibility for the government’s mishandling of the case.

President Fidel V. Ramos told a news conference that he has yet to decide whether to also accept the resignation of Labor Secretary Maria 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 Philippine maid, Della Maga, and a 4-year-old Singaporean boy in Maga’s care.

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

But the Singaporean 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.

A presidential commission appointed by Ramos to look into the controversy accused a large number of government officials of negligence and incompetence in their handling of the efforts to save Contemplacion’s life.

There are important Senate elections in the Philippines in May, and Ramos is reportedly concerned that the loss of public confidence in his government over Contemplacion’s death could swing the vote against his backers.

Her case has stirred an emotional outpouring 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 mistreatment. These workers send back more than $1 billion a year in remittances.

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

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

“It is my desire now that the country will be able to see the situation from a cooler and more objective perspective,” Romulo told a news conference with a quavering voice. “There are forces in the administration, and even political ideologies, which are trying to take advantage of this case. And what I’m saying is: The buck stops here. The finger-pointing has to stop.”

Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced that he has agreed to Ramos’ request to send two Singaporean 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 that she had been severely beaten by a person of such strength that Contemplacion could not have been the killer.

A Philippine commission said Contemplacion may have been the “victim of an injustice.” Singapore rejected the panel’s findings.