Palace eyes FB etiquette in OFW pre-departure seminars

Malacañang is eyeing adding social media etiquette in pre-departure seminars for overseas Filipino workers, following a report that a Filipino nurse was sacked from a Singapore hospital over supposed anti-Singapore Facebook comments.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said they will make that suggestion to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

"Kasi ngayon, ‘di ba, bago po magde-deploy sa ibang bansa, nagko-conduct po ang POEA ng pre-deployment seminars that they all have to go through before they leave the country... na kasama po doon sa pre-deployment seminar ‘yung a little bit about the culture of the host country...  ‘yung mga dos and don’ts din," she said on government-run dzRB radio.

"We’ll make that suggestion for them to be added," she added.

A report on Singapore's The Straits Times indicated a Filipino nurse was fired from Tan Tock Seng Hospital over supposedly offensive comments on Facebook.

The report said the anti-Singaporean Facebook post, supposedly by Filipino nurse Ed Mundsel Bello Ello, had gone viral, resulting in his dismissal.

The Straits Times report cited a Facebook post supposedly made by the nurse that Singaporeans are "loosers" [losers] and that he was "praying that disators [disasters] will strike Singapore."

It also cited a statement by the hospital saying Bello joined it in October and was under probation when he made the "offensive online comments."

Bello confirmed he had made these posts, despite claiming his Facebook account had been hacked.

Valte said that in the case of Philippine government agencies, employees are reminded to be "aware of what you put on social media even if your circle is only composed of your friends because we can see in instances that it can go beyond your intention."

"So just think very carefully what you put out there. Just take things very carefully and let us… It would be best to always be sensitive about others when we post photos, I suppose ‘yung mga status messages on different platforms on social media," she added. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News

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