The Philippines recalled its ambassador to Singapore on Wednesday and threatened to break off ties completely as a row over the hanging of a Filipino maid erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis.
Ramos, venting the "anguish that we all feel" at Friday's execution of Flor Contemplacion, also banned any more maids from going to Singapore and postponed a planned naval exercise in July with the Singaporean navy.The Philippine air force is standing by to fly home any of the 70,000 Filipinos working there if they fear for their safety, he told a news conference.
Filipino diplomats said Ramos' tough measures were partly the result of his anger at the tone of a Singaporean protest delivered on Tuesday.
Singapore had expressed outrage at the burning of a Singaporean flag by protesters in the southern Philippines and demanded those responsible be brought to justice.
The diplomats said the crisis was one of the most serious between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since the six-member alliance was formed 28 years ago.
Singapore hanged Contemplacion on Friday for the 1991 killing of another Filipino maid and a three-year-old Singaporean boy despite appeals from Ramos and human-rights groups for a stay of the execution.
Although Contemplacion confessed to the murders, many Filipinos remain convinced she was innocent and she has been hailed as a national martyr.
Ramos' anger at the Singapore protest led to Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo summoning Singaporean Ambassador Tan Sheng Chye to a dramatic late-night meeting on Tuesday.
Romulo told him Manila was dismayed at the protest and that Singapore had completely failed to appreciate the depth of national feeling at the execution of the mother of four.
Instead of calling Tan to the Foreign Office, Romulo told the envoy to come to the presidential palace for the meeting.
Manila's displeasure was also underlined by the presence at the meeting of senior cabinet members including Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan and presidential national security adviser Jose Almonte.
"The Singaporean ambassador was reminded that freedom of expression will never be abridged under Philippine democracy," Ramos said.
The president said the Philippines was ready to break diplomatic ties with Singapore if an inquiry he had ordered established that Contemplacion was unjustly hanged.