A FILIPINO nurse working in Singapore was sentenced on Monday, Sept. 21, to four months in jail for insulting Singaporeans on Facebook and lying to police investigators afterward.
Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, a former employee of government-run Tan Tock Seng Hospital, pleaded guilty to a three charges: one count of violating Singapore’s sedition act by promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility using social media and two charges of lying to police, according to the Associated Press (AP).
He was sentenced to three months in prison for the charge related to Facebook and one month for providing police with false information, Agence France-Presse reported.
District Judge Siva Shanmugam, who sentenced Bello, said there was no place for xenophobic comments in Singapore, as they present “a threat to our social stability and security,” according to AP.
“The local-foreigner divide has remained a challenging fault line in our society in recent times,” Shanmugam said.
“Unlike the limited effect and reach of distinct racial or religious issues, this divide affects all and sundry and cannot be regarded as any less delicate or sensitive in the current context,” he added.
In a Jan. 2 Facebook post, Bello wrote: “We take their jobs, their future, their women, and soon, we will evict all SG loosers (sic) out of their own country.”
A subsequent comment written by the Filipino read: “we will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”
The early January social media post further read, “The best part, I will be praying that disastors (disasters) strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die than I will celebrate. Remember Pinoy better and stronger than Stinkaporeans.”
Prosecutors originally sought a five-month sentence for Bello to “send a clear message to like-minded individuals that their behaviour will not be tolerated,” Agence France Press reported.
Philippine authorities on Aug. 27 said they respected the Singapore court’s decision to convict Bello of sedition, according to AP.
Mark Goh, Bello’s lawyer, told GMA News that his client, long before the trials, said he is “truly remorseful and sorry because of what he has done.”
“My client has surrendered. In fact he has already decided on a personal level that it has caused him already a lot of anxiety and stress. And therefore he did not want to perpetuate the trial and decided to plead guilty,” Goh said.
After Bello serves his sentence, he will be deported back to the Philippines and prohibited from returning to Singapore for a period of time, the attorney told GMA News.
Courts in Singapore have previously prosecuted individuals, including both Singaporeans and foreigners, who have made racist comments perceived as seditious toward other ethnic groups.
Approximately 40 percent of Singapore’s population of nearly 5.5 million are foreigners, many of whom hail from nearby nations, including the Philippines. Estimates put the Filipino population in Singapore at more than 170,000, a large number of which work in the entertainment, hospitality and medical industries, AP reported.
