Filipinos in Singapore

History

In 2004, a majority of Filipinos residing in Singapore were domestic workers, while a minority of them worked in white-collared jobs. In 2007, an estimated 80,000 work as domestic helpers, with another 12,000 in the information technology industry. This marks a slight rise from 1995, when roughly 75,000 domestic helpers from the Philippines were estimated to be working in Singapore. By 2009, the Filipino population in Singapore increased to 163,090, and between 2010 and 2012, about 45,450 more Filipinos were newly hired into Singapore.

Due to the influx of Filipino domestic workers in the early 2000s, there was the stereotype of Filipinos being domestic workers among Singaporeans and this was portrayed in a Singaporean TV series, The Noose, which featured a fictional character named Leticia Bongnino. The stereotype resulted in some Filipinos working in other sectors of the economy being mistaken by locals as domestic workers. However, in recent years they have seen professional diversification, with others working as nurses, bankers, F&B and retail store staff and entertainers.

The number of Filipino victims of human trafficking jumped by 70% in 2007 to 212 cases. By 2013, a total of 203,243 Filipinos resided in Singapore, with 49,000 that were not properly documented or had overstayed illegally.

Roughly 460,000 Filipino tourists came to Singapore in 2008.

Filipinos’ Residency Status in Singapore

A majority of Filipinos in Singapore are on work permits, according to a 2013 estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. There are also white-collared workers who are applying for permanent residency in the country, some eventually applying for Singapore citizenship as well. However, the number of Singapore citizens of Filipino origin is difficult to determine, since they are officially counted as members of the "Others" racial category by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Incidents

Celebration of Philippine Independence Day

In May 2014, plans to hold celebrations for the Philippine Independence Day were cancelled due to online criticism of holding it in Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping district.

Edz Ello sedition

In January 2015, Ello Ed Mundsel Bello (also known as Edz Ello), a Filipino nurse working for Tan Tock Seng Hospital was sacked. He was then charged for posting anti-Singaporean remarks on his social media accounts in April in the same year.

His comments immediately went viral, leading to "netizens" lodging police reports against him. Right after his comments went viral, his employer Tan Tock Seng Hospital, conducted internal investigations. He was also required to assist in police investigations. However, he only admitted to posting some of the offensive comments to both the hospital investigation team and the police force, he then claimed that his social media accounts were "hacked", with the "hackers" posting the offensive comments using his social media accounts.

Police investigations showed that all the comments were made by Edz Ello, and his account wasn't hacked as what he had told the police previously. Netizens also proved that this was not the first time that he had made such a post before this incident.

On April 7, 2015, Ello Ed Mundsel Bello was arrested and charged for three counts of subsequently lying to the police, and two counts of publishing seditious statements. This resulted in an online petition on Facebook to deport the nurse. On September 21, 2015, Bello was sentenced to four months of jail.

Notable people

• Bernadette Ong, Miss Universe Singapore 2020.

• Flor Contemplacion, Filipino domestic worker who was executed for murder

• Martina Veloso, sports shooter

References

References

1. "Stock Estimate of Filipinos Overseas As of December 2013". Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
2. "[http://phys.org/news/2014-06-google-singapore-blog-filipinos.html Google removes Singapore hate blog against Filipinos]" ( {{webarchive. link. (June 22, 2014 ). [[Agence France Presse]]. June 20, 2014. Retrieved on June 22, 2014.)
3. (2007). "Background of Singapore and Profile of Singaporean President S.R. Nathan". Office of the Press Secretary.
4. Shenon, Philip. (March 19, 1995). "Ramos calls the Filipino Maid Executed in Singapore a Heroine".
5. (February 8, 2013). "OFW Statistics". Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
6. (February 15, 2020). "Becoming Singaporean: In the shoes of a Filipino migrant family". Channel News Asia.
7. Certeza, Dodo. (November 18, 2008). "The changing face of Filipinos in Singapore".
8. Bauzon, Bernice Camille V.. (January 16, 2009). "OFW jobs in Singapore not in peril".
9. Caber, Michael. (February 5, 2008). "Trafficking in Filipinos worsens in Singapore".
10. (August 31, 2019). "Malaysian and Filipino families among 149 people to become Singapore citizens". The Straits Times.
11. "Response To "What About Malay Migrants"". Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
12. (December 29, 2014). "Unease in Singapore over Filipino workers". BBC News.
13. (May 27, 2014). "Filipino group cancels plans to hold Independence Day celebration". The Straits Times.
14. (April 22, 2014). "Filipino Group Awakens Anti-Foreign Anger in Singapore". The Wall Street Journal.
15. (January 12, 2015). "Filipino nurse sacked for anti-Singapore comments". PhilStar.
16. (January 6, 2015). "Philippine embassy reminds Tan Tock Seng nurse to watch his social media usage". The Straits Times.
17. (January 13, 2015). "Why Filipino nurse had to be sacked". AsiaOne.
18. (September 22, 2015). "'Edz Ello' gets 4 months' jail for seditious posts".
19. "Two for two, sharpshooter Martina Veloso wins S'pore's second gold at Commonwealth Games".