Filipinos in Singapore

Filipinos in Singapore consists of citizens of the Philippines residing in Singapore or Singaporeans of Filipino descent. According to a 2013 estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, a total of 203,243 Filipinos live or reside in the country, with 44,102 permanent residents or persons of Filipino descent who are not citizens of the Philippines within the community.[1]

Filipinos in Singapore
Total population
203,243 (2013)[1] (pop)
Languages
Tagalog, other Philippine languages, English, Mandarin, Malay
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism · Protestantism · Islam
Related ethnic groups
Filipino people, Overseas Filipinos
Part of a series on
Singaporeans

History

In 2004, a majority of Filipinos residing in Singapore were domestic workers, while a minority of them worked in white-collared jobs.[2] In 2007, an estimated 80,000 work as domestic helpers, with another 12,000 in the information technology industry.[3] This marks a slight rise from 1995, when roughly 75,000 domestic helpers from the Philippines were estimated to be working in Singapore.[4] By 2009, the Filipino population in Singapore increased to 163,090,[5] and between 2010 and 2012, about 45,450 more Filipinos were newly hired into Singapore.[5]

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.[6] However, in recent years they have seen professional diversification, with others working as nurses, bankers, F&B and retail store staff and entertainers.[7][8]

The number of Filipino victims of human trafficking jumped by 70% in 2007 to 212 cases.[9] By 2013, a total of 203,243 Filipinos resided in Singapore, with 49,000 that were not properly documented or had overstayed illegally.[1] That year, a Google Blogger account appeared, giving suggestions on how to harass Filipinos in Singapore. This account was deleted by Google.[2]

Aside from residents, roughly 460,000 Filipino tourists came to Singapore in 2008.[8]

Singaporean Filipinos

While a majority of Filipinos are on work permits, there are about 44,102 individuals who are naturalised or have Singaporean spouses, according to a 2013 estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.[1] These are usually white-collared workers, taking up permanent residency in the country and some eventually registering for Singaporean citizenship.[6][10] However, the number of Singaporean 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.[11]

Controversies

Philippines Independence Day 2014 incident

In May 2014, plans to hold celebrations for the Philippines Independence Day were cancelled due to online criticism of holding it in Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping district.[12][13][14]

Tan Tock Seng nurse incident/Edz Ello incident

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.[15][16] This resulted in an online petition on Facebook to deport the nurse.[17] On 21 Sept 2015, Bello was sentenced to four months of jail.[18]

Notable people

See also

References
  1. "Stock Estimate of Filipinos Overseas As of December 2013" (PDF). Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 23, 2019.
  2. "Google removes Singapore hate blog against Filipinos" ( Archived 2014-06-21 at WebCite). Agence France Presse. June 20, 2014. Retrieved on June 22, 2014.
  3. "Background of Singapore and Profile of Singaporean President S.R. Nathan", News, Philippines: Office of the Press Secretary, 2007, archived from the original on 2008-04-19, retrieved 2008-04-11
  4. Shenon, Philip (1995-03-19), "Ramos calls the Filipino Maid Executed in Singapore a Heroine", The New York Times, retrieved 2009-07-27
  5. OFW Statistics, Philippines: Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 8 February 2013, archived from the original on 23 April 2014, retrieved 2014-04-28
  6. "Becoming Singaporean: In the shoes of a Filipino migrant family". Channel News Asia. February 15, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  7. Certeza, Dodo (2008-11-18), "The changing face of Filipinos in Singapore", The Philippine Star, archived from the original on 2012-09-06, retrieved 2009-07-27
  8. Bauzon, Bernice Camille V. (2009-01-16), "OFW jobs in Singapore not in peril", The Manila Times, archived from the original on 2009-01-17, retrieved 2007-07-27
  9. Caber, Michael (2008-02-05), "Trafficking in Filipinos worsens in Singapore", Manila Standard Today, retrieved 2008-04-11
  10. "Malaysian and Filipino families among 149 people to become Singapore citizens". August 31, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  11. Response To "What About Malay Migrants", Singapore: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, archived from the original on 2014-04-28, retrieved 2014-04-28
  12. "Unease in Singapore over Filipino workers". BBC News. 29 December 2014.
  13. "Filipino group cancels plans to hold Independence Day celebration". The Straits Times. May 27, 2014.
  14. "Filipino Group Awakens Anti-Foreign Anger in Singapore". The Wall Street Journal. April 22, 2014.
  15. "Filipino nurse sacked for anti-Singapore comments". PhilStar. January 12, 2015.
  16. "Philippine embassy reminds Tan Tock Seng nurse to watch his social media usage". The Straits Times. Jan 6, 2015.
  17. "Why Filipino nurse had to be sacked". AsiaOne. Jan 13, 2015.
  18. "'Edz Ello' gets 4 months' jail for seditious posts". September 22, 2015.
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