DFA assures aid for Filipino nurse charged with sedition in Singapore

MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday assured that the Filipino nurse charged with sedition in Singapore for posting anti-Singaporean comments on social media will be provided assistance.

DFA spokesman Charles Jose said the Philippine embassy in Singapore has been in constant communication with Filipino nurse Ed Mundsel Bello Ello since his case began on January 2015.

An embassy representative, he added, was present at the hearing last Tuesday.

Ello, 28, was fired from his job at the government-run Tan Tock Seng Hospital for insulting Singaporeans on Facebook and calling for a takeover of Singapore by Filipinos.

He is facing two charges of publishing seditious statements on Jan. 2 and three charges of lying to the police when he claimed that his social media account was hacked.

Jose said while the Philippines respects the processes undertaken by the Singaporean government on Ello’s case, he noted that the detained Filipino will be given “all possible legal options that are available to him under Singaporean law.

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“The forms of assistance will be determined by the sentence imposed on him,” he said, adding Ello was provided with a court-appointed lawyer.

In the meantime, Jose called on Filipinos to be sensitive to the laws of their host countries, especially on what they post on social media.

“They should always be careful and follow the laws,” he said.