Gov’t could issue MOP20,000 fine over defaced ‘heritage’ wall

A mainland television show has stirred debate in Macau after it captured the entire process of Mario Ho, youngest son of gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, drawing on a wall on Travessa da Paixão.

The head of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said on Sunday that the matter was not under the authority of her Office, but rather the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM).

Lawmaker Sulu Sou has expressed the opinion that this comment gave the general public the impression that the government would resolve the case using the Cultural Heritage Law, mainly Article 35, which states that the appropriate punishment is a fine ranging from MOP2,000 to MOP20,000.

Ho apologized to the public via a social media account, promising to take responsibility for the incident.

Sou brought up a similar case from 2015 in the St Lazarus District, in which four Filipino men were caught graffitiing on the wall of a heritage building opposite the Albergue.

The men, who said that they had done it out of playfulness, were charged by the Judiciary Police (PJ) with the crime of serious damage. The maximum penalty for this is five years’ imprisonment.

As such, Sou questioned the different treatment of both cases, but acknowledged that the MGTO head had said the authorities still needed to engage in further follow up and evaluation of Ho’s case.

Yesterday, the IC clarified that the affected wall is only in the buffer zone of a cultural heritage site; the Ruins of St Paul’s. This situation will make the Cultural Heritage Law inapplicable.

Because the wall on which Ho drew is part of a privately-owned building, it is now at the owner’s discretion whether or not to file a legal suit against Ho. Sou thought that even if a suit is filed, it will likely be a civil case.

In the 2015 case, the IC claimed it spent MOP21,000 on fixing the wall. Staff reporter