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Filipino convicted under Sedition Act for ‘xenophobic’ remarks

Filipino convicted under Sedition Act for ‘xenophobic’ remarks

A Philippine national who made inflammatory remarks about Singaporeans online this year has pleaded guilty to three charges.

On Wednesday (26 Aug), Channel NewsAsia reported that Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, had been convicted under the Sedition Act for promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility. He also faced two charges of lying to the police.

On 2 Jan this year, while working at a nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Ello wrote on Facebook: ”Singaporeans are loosers (sic) in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women and soon we will evict all SG loosers (sic)out of their own country hahaha".

At the end of the post, he wrote, ”Remember Pinoy (Filipinos) better and stronger than Stinkaporeans".

Several police reports were made against Ello after his comments went viral. Ello lied to the police three times, claiming his Facebook account was hacked.

After the incident was discovered, Ello was also fired by the hospital.

In court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohubalan said Ello was unremorseful, and that his comments were “xenophobic, derogatory and inflammatory” in nature. Ello had also made similarly offensive comments online on three other occasions in 2014.

The prosecution has asked for 20 weeks’ jail, with DPP Kumaresan stressing that comments like Ello's are “detrimental to society” and cannot be “trivialised or underestimated”.

Ello’s lawyer Mark Goh told the court that Ello’s comments did not touch on the sensitive subjects of race or religion, and sought a lower sentence of six weeks’ jail.

Ello will be sentenced on 16 Sep.

Under the Sedition Act, anyone who promotes feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes in Singapore faces a fine of up to S$5,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.

Ello also faces a jail term of up to a year, or a fine of up to S$5,000 or both for giving false information to the police.