MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino nurse named Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, who was dismissed from his job at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore, was arrested and charged in court with sedition and providing false information to a police, Channel News Asia reports
The charges stemmed from Bello’s controversial posts on Facebook which allegedly has the “tendency to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Singapore.”
Bello’s two posts last year, which became viral in January this year, has earned the ire of both Singaporeans and Filipinos in Singapore who. The first one read:
“Now the Singaporeans are loosers 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 hahaha. The best part, I will be praying that disators strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die than I will celebrate. REMEMBER PINOY BETTER AND STRONGER THAN STINKAPOREANS.”[sic]
The second message read:
”Yes I love our people, we will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”[sic]
These Facebook rants by Bello has sparked anger among Filipino and Singaporean netizens who were offended by the discriminatory remarks. When it spread online and reached the management of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, he was immediately investigated.
The hospital also issued a statement: “We are a public healthcare institution and we expect our staff to be respectful and professional. We do not condone behaviours or comments that are irresponsible and offensive, and will take the appropriate disciplinary action where necessary,” the statement said in part and assured that an investigation is underway.
They also placed Bello under administrative duties. However, when further investigation into his previous posts in 2014 revealed that his rants “touched on race and religion,” he was quickly dismissed.
Photo Credit: The Online Citizen
The 28-year-old Filipino nurse was arrested on Tuesday, April 7 and faces 2 counts of sedition and 3 more counts of misleading the authorities. The latter apparently is the result when Bello lied about claiming his Facebook was hacked and someone else posted the scandalous message.
Under Singapore’s Sedition Act, if found guilty of “promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore”, Bello will be slapped with a fine of SG$ 5,000 in the first offense or three years in jail, or both.
For providing false information to a public servant or authority, Bello is facing another fine of SG$ 5,000 or jail term up to 1 year, or both, if found guilty.