Filipino who made ‘inflammatory’ remarks convicted
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Filipino who made ‘xenophobic, inflammatory’ remarks convicted under Sedition Act
SINGAPORE: Philippine national Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, who made disparaging remarks about Singaporeans on Facebook earlier this year, pleaded guilty to three charges on Wednesday (Aug 26).
He was convicted on one count under the Sedition Act, for promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility, and on two counts of providing false information to police. An additional charge under the Sedition Act, and another for lying to police, will be taken into consideration during sentencing.
In his Facebook post, Bello called Singaporeans "loosers (sic) in their own country". "We take their jobs, their future, their women, and soon, we will evict all SG loosers out of their own country", Bello added, saying that Singapore would be the "new Filipino state".
The Filipino also stated that he would be "praying that disastors (sic) strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die". He will "celebrate" if this happens, he said.
He ended his Facebook post with the declaration: "REMEMBER PINOY BETTER AND STRONGER THAN STINKAPOREANS."
Bello did this while employed as a nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which subsequently dismissed him over the incident, after discovering through their own investigations that Bello had made three other online posts in the same vein in 2014.
In court on Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohubalan said that Bello’s comments were “xenophobic, derogatory and inflammatory” in nature, further aggravated by the fact that his comments were published to “an enormous audience”, and that Bello displayed a total lack of remorse for his actions.
Investigations revealed that he had regularly commented on reports and articles relating to Singapore, often in a “vile, derogatory and offensive” nature, and on sensitive issues such as race and nationality.
Bello’s comments came under the spotlight when they were posted on The Kaki News Network, a Facebook page with a significant public following of 30,000 Facebook users. The comments went viral, and were also the subject of several police reports made against Bello.
Alarmed by the hostility generated by his comments, Bello deleted them, and lodged a report with police, stating that he was “shocked and furious that these comments had been attributed to him”.
He told police on three occasions that he did not make the offending comments on Facebook, and that his account had been accessed without his permission. Bello only admitted to his lies in his fourth statement to police, when “he found he could not keep up the lie”, Bello’s lawyer, Mark Goh, said.
Mr Goh also told the court that as the “delicate golden threads” of race and religion that bind Singaporean society had not been touched on by his client’s comments, Bello should be granted a lower sentence of six weeks, as opposed to the prosecution’s submission of 20 weeks’ imprisonment.
In response, DPP Kumaresan told the court that comments of this nature are “detrimental to society” and “cannot be trivialized or underestimated”, especially in a cosmopolitan society like Singapore.
Bello will be sentenced on Sep 16.
For promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore, Bello could have received a fine of up to S$5,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.
For giving false information to police, Bello could have faced a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
- CNA/vc
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orh bee
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heaven got eyes
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very light sentence lor ...
what are we breeding?
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Philippines says it accepts Singapore's sedition ruling on Filipino nurse: Media
MANILA - The Philippine authorities said on Thursday that they respect the decision by a Singapore court to convict a Filipino nurse of sedition, GMA News reported.
The news came one day after Ed Mundsel Bello Ello, 29, pleaded guilty to publishing seditious Facebook comment, and to two counts of lying to the police on Jan 3 and 4 this year.
"Mr Ello and his lawyer respect the judgment of the court and have done all that is possible to defend his actions," Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said, urging overseas Filipinos to follow the laws of their host countries.
"We await the sentence to be handed out by the court on September 16," Mr Jose was quoted by GMA News as saying.
The prosecution is now seeking a sentence of 20 weeks in jail for Ello, calling his remarks "xenophobic, derogatory and highly inflammatory".
On Jan 2, the 29-year-old had labelled Singaporeans as "loosers (sic) in their own country" and vowed to "take their jobs" before "evicting" them from here. Claiming that Singapore would be the "new Filipino state", he also prayed for disasters to strike the country.
The post made on The Real Singapore Facebook page, which went viral on social media, was criticised by Filipinos and Singaporeans.
Worried about the repercussions, the assistant nurse, who was eventually sacked by Tan Tock Seng Hospital, lodged a police report the next day claiming a stranger had accessed his Facebook account and posted those statements.
He added that the stranger must have used a computer at a Lucky Plaza cybercafe he had logged on to.
Police seized the cybercafe terminal along with two of Ello's mobile devices. These were sent for forensic analysis. Only after he was confronted with evidence did he confess that he made the post using his "Edz Ello'' Facebook account from his home.
He was on Wednesday convicted of one charge under the Sedition Act, for promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility. Ello, who is on bail, also admitted his guilt on two counts of providing false information to police.
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i am surprised the pinoys didnt throw a flor-contemplacion-middle-finger-in-your-face menagerie to us
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their own ppl like tt they throw face leh
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4 months’ jail for Filipino who made xenophobic remarks against Singaporeans
SINGAPORE: Ello Ed Mundsel Bello has been sentenced to 4 months in jail on Monday (Sep 21) for making xenophobic and inflammatory remarks about Singaporeans and lying to the police.
The 28-year-old Filipino had been convicted of three charges last month: one count under the Sedition Act for promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility, and two counts of providing false information to police. An additional charge under the Sedition Act, and another for lying to police, were taken into consideration in Bello’s sentencing.
In a Facebook post made on January 2015, Bello, then a nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, called Singaporeans "loosers (sic) in their own country". "We take their jobs, their future, their women, and soon, we will evict all SG loosers out of their own country", Bello wrote, adding that Singapore would be the "new Filipino state".
He also stated that he would be "praying that disastors (sic) strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die" and that he will "celebrate" if this happens. He later deleted the post and lied to police that he did not make the comments, even lodging a false police report over the matter.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital subsequently dismissed him over the incident, after discovering through their own investigations that Bello had made three other online posts in the same vein in October 2014.
In sentencing Bello on Monday, District Judge Siva Shanmugam said that in the age of globalization and the proliferation of social media, it is a timely reminder that “the internet is not an entirely unregulated space”.
Bello exploited the anonymity he enjoyed online in posting such “provocative remarks, intended to agitate, infuriate” Singaporeans, said Judge Shanmugam.
“The local-foreigner divide has remained a challenging fault line in our society”, the judge said. "If provocative conduct such as Bello’s is left unchecked, it could possibly lead to “discrimination against the innocent and law abiding … Filipino residents in Singapore”.
“In a nation whose only resource are its people, we simply cannot afford to condone any act which poses a threat to our social stability and security”, said Judge Shanmugam, noting that a cosmopolitan society such as Singapore’s is held together by mutual respect and understanding, and this has been “the foundation of our success and progress in the last 50 years”.
In a statement to the media on Monday, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that it "takes a serious view of work pass holders who do not comply with our laws".
"Foreigners who are charged in court, convicted and sentenced to jail will have their work passes revoked and be permanently barred from working in Singapore."
Bello’s lawyer, Mr Mark Goh, said his client does not intend to appeal the sentence.
For promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore, Bello could have received a fine of up to S$5,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.
For giving false information to police, Bello could have faced a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
- CNA/vc
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I like pinoys. :)