Philippines-born NS defaulter jailed for 10 weeks

SINGAPORE — A 23-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail by the District Court on Tuesday (Oct 10) for defaulting on his National Service (NS) obligations.

Philippines-born Joseph Daluping Kum was convicted of failing to report for his NS enlistment and for living overseas for about three-and-a-half years — from March 9, 2012 to August 31, 2015 — without a valid exit permit.

Kum, who is currently serving in the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command unit, will complete his NS stint on Nov 10.

According to court documents, Kum came to Singapore as an infant and left for the Philippines when he was about 9. He lived and studied there and would occasionally return to Singapore as his father worked here.

On Aug 4, 2011, Kum came back to Singapore and headed to the Central Manpower Base to settle his NS matters.

He was told he had committed an offence by remaining overseas without a valid exit permit, and that he needed such a permit before he could leave Singapore or remain outside the Republic.

Kum, who turned sixteen-and-a-half years old on June 18, 2010, claimed he was not aware of the requirement.

After registering for NS on Sept 8, 2011, Kum received an Enlistment Act Offence Notice for remaining outside Singapore without a valid permit and was offered a composition fine of S$1,000.

Although four rounds of appeals to waive the fine were rejected, he was granted a time extension to settle the payment.

But on Feb 8, 2012, he left Singapore without a valid exit permit. A police gazette and blacklist were raised when he failed to report for his NS call-up on March 9, 2012.

His father, Mr Richard Kum, was apparently notified that his son had to report for his NS duty, but court documents did not mention if Mr Kum had passed the message to his son.

Mr Kum had told the enlistment officer over the phone that his son would not return to Singapore to serve his NS because the appeals to waive the fine were rejected.

Kum returned to Singapore on Sept 1, 2015, and was arrested after he went to the Ang Mo Kio North Neighbourhood Police Centre to lodge a report over lost property.

The next day, he reported to Central Manpower Base and paid the composition fine on Sept 25 with help from his mother.

In mitigation, defence lawyer Rajan Supramaniam said it was his client’s first brush with the law. Kum said he was “remorseful” and had committed the offences due to family circumstances.

His parents had moved to Singapore shortly after he was born, and his father applied for Singaporean citizenship for him at the age of nine. But his mother took Kum and his two siblings back to the Philippines after discovering her husband was having an affair.

After he was told to pay the composition fine, Kum had several arguments with his father over the latter’s refusal to settle the fine. His father later told him to leave the house.

With nowhere to stay, Kum borrowed money from an aunt, who was employed as a domestic helper, and returned to the Philippines. Kum later returned to Singapore to settle the fine at the urging of his older brother.

He will begin his jail term on Nov 13.

Kum’s sentence is in line with benchmarks set by the High Court in July. A panel of three judges had determined the custodial threshold would be crossed when one defaults for two years, with a starting point jail sentence of two months. Each additional year of default would see the sentence increase by half a month. For those who default for seven to 10 years, jail terms start at five months, with an increase of one month for each additional year of default.

Those who evade NS for 11 to 16 years could be sentenced to 14 to 22 months’ jail, with two months’ imprisonment added for each year of default.

Jail terms of 24 months to the maximum 36 months would apply to defaulters of 17 to 23 or more years.

The judges noted that these were the starting points for sentencing and judges should consider aggravating and mitigating factors thereafter.