Arrest and deportation of Australian missionary Patricia Fox

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo says there is a "reign of fear" on part of those who violate the law as a response to Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox's remark on President Rodrigo Duterte's "reign of tyranny."

"She was a violator, that’s precisely why she departed from the country but that is not to say that… We are grateful for the good deeds she performed but that will not exempt her from the punishment imposed by law," Panelo says while conceding that the nun is entitled to her opinion.

The elderly nun, who spent decades working with the marginalized, returned to Australia on Saturday, November 3, after losing a long legal battle in the Philippines to stop her deportation.

She apparently angered Duterte by joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers, including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in Mindanao.

The Bureau of Immigration has downgraded Australian nun Patricia Fox’s Missionary Visa to a Temporary Visitor’s Visa with a 59-day validity.

Sister Patricia Fox's legal counsels say they have yet to receive the official copy of the Bureau of Immigration order denying their motion for reconsideration on the Australian nun's application for a missionary visa.

Earlier on Monday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Immigration has rejected Fox's appeal for an extension of her missionary visa.

Meanwhile, Fox is set to file on Monday next week, October 15, her reply on the comment of the Immigration on her petition for review before the Justice department on the deportation filed against her.

"Sr. Pat hopes that the DOJ will settle the substantive issues raised in our Petition for Review particularly on the right of foreigners to their exercise of freedom of expression and assembly, universally recognized by both domestic and international laws, which the BI refused to squarely address," they say.

The Bureau of Immigration denies Sister Patricia Fox's request to extend her missionary visa.

Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval tells Philstar.com in a text message that the Australian nun is ordered to file for downgrading to revert her visa status to a temporary visitor with a 59-day stay starting the date of the expiry of her missionary visa.

Sister Patricia Fox applies for a tourist visa at the Bureau of Immigration.

Her missionary visa expires on Wednesday, September 5.

She said last week that she would bring her deportation case to the Department of Justice, to which the Immigration bureau is attached. — The STAR/Evelyn Macairan

Sister Patricia Fox, the Australian missionary whom President Rodrigo Duterte ordered investigated for supposedly engaging in partisan politics, says she will elevate her deportation case to the Department of Justice.

Fox's camp, in a press conference on Friday, says that they will file an appeal at the DOJ on Monday, in hopes that the department will not “prejudge her case.”

Australian missionary Patricia Fox has received an order for deportation, her lawyer says.

In a report by The STAR, Fox’s lawyer, Maria Sol Taude, says the Bureau of Immigration has ordered the deportation of the elderly nun. — with a report from Evelyn Macairan

Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox urges President Duterte to allow three Methodist missionaries to leave the Philippines and return to their countries if he really wants a genuine dialogue with the churches, a statement by the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura reads.

Fox's call comes amid Duterte's formation of a committee that will hold a dialogue with various church groups after criticisms when he called God stupid in a speech.

The three missionaries of the United Methodist Church being prevented by the Bureau of Immigration from leaving the country were Zimbabwean Chandiwana Tawanda, who has been detained by the Immigration in Camp Bagong Diwa for six weeks now, American Adam Thomas Shaw and Malawian Miracle Oswan. The three are in the country to join the International Solidarity Mission, a fact-finding and solidarity mission on rights abuses in Mindanao.

She submitted today her Memorandum to the Board of Special Inquiry (BSI) at the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Earlier the Department of Justice (DOJ) had ruled that the BI had no legal right to forfeit her missionary visa, but it has the right to continue deportation proceedings against her.

Religious authorities urge Immigration officials to grant Sister Patricia Fox her right to due process and equal protection of the law amid concern that the agency will deny her motion for reconsideration against the order for the Catholic nun to leave the Philippines.

"We from the Religious Discernment Group are utterly dismayed on the injustice done to one of our conveners, Sr. Patricia Fox, NDS. While we already expected that the Bureau of Immigration will deny her Motion for Reconsideration, we are still hoping that the Commissioners would be enlightened and Sr. Pat will be accorded of her right to due process and equal protection of the law," says Catholic nuns Sister Lydia Lascano, Sister Rebecca Pacete and Sister Lydia Ebora, who are also conveners of the organization in a statement late Wednesday.

Fox is also a convener of the Religious Discernment Group.

"We are challenging the injustice done to Sr. Pat for we see its implications on international missionary congregations with members who are foreigners in the country and participate in solidarity activities with the poor."

"We have known Sr. Pat since 2009 and we admire how she has been responding faithfully and fearlessly to her religious calling. She is a courageous advocate for the right to life and human dignity. Her missionary journey with the people she loved and cared so much is a concrete way of living out what Pope Francis said on World Mission Sunday 2017 message: 'We should prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.'"

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra says that Sister Patricia Fox can stay in the country until June 18.

The Justice chief notes that the Bureau of Immigration denied her motion for reconsideration on May 24, which gives her 25 days, from when she received the order, to leave the country.

Guevarra also orders the Bureau of Immigration to comment on Fox’s appeal within 10 days from receipt of the order. Fox will be given five days to comment on the Immigration’s reply.

The camp of Sister Patricia Fox appeals the cancelation of her missionary visa at the Department of Justice.

Fox and her lawyers file a Petition for Review before the Justice department, seeking a reversal of the Immigration’s order that forfeited her visa and ordered her to leave the country.

The Immigration's imposed 30-day period for Sister Fox to leave the Philippines lapses today.

The Bureau of Immigration reaffirms its forfeiture of Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox’s missionary visa.

In a statement, the Immigration bureau said that its Board of Commissioners “denied with finality” Fox’s motion for reconsideration.

The 30-day leave order ends tomorrow, May 24.

The Immigration bureau has reiterated that the cancellation of her visa is separate from the ongoing deportation case against her.

Commission on Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon says Sister Patricia Fox's participation in rallies does not constitute a partisan political activity, which he defines as contributing to or influencing the choice of the leaders of the country.

He says that while joining rallies, signing a petition, speaking out for social justice or defending the rights of other persons are overtly political in nature, these are non-partisan in character.

"Proper behavior is essentially abiding by the laws of the land meaning if you don't violate the laws, if you don't violate criminal law, for example, you don't steal, you don't harm anyone etcetera, then you should be allowed the freedom that you are entitled to," Gascon says in an interview with ANC's "Headstart."

"I think what the Immigration authorities should look at is whether or not she's engaged in anything that is of a partisan character."

Commission on Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon says the case of Sister Patricia Fox is "quite perplexing" as it forces us to look at what rights foreigners really have when they come into the country.

He says that from the perspective of the CHR, foreigners enjoy the same rights that Filipinos would be able to exercise universally. 

"Now you might say does she have the right to vote? Obviously not because she's not a citizen, because that is a political right that is attributable only to citizens. But does that mean she no longer has the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom to peaceably assemble for grievance? I think not. She still has the rights to those rights which are recognized universally," Gascon says in an interview with ANC's "Early Edition."

"From the perspective of the CHR, foreigners also have human rights as much as citizens that's why it's called human rights, not citizen rights, meaning it's universal."

Gascon says that the CHR understands that for foreigners entering the Philippines, Immigration authorities have the prerogative to issue a visa and decide whether to accept them or not at the border.

The Bureau of Immigration forfeits the missionary visa of Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox and orders her to leave the country citing her "involvement in partisan political activities."

The bureau did not elaborate what political activity the 71-year-old nun has engaged in.

"She (Fox) was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa,” Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente says in a statement.

Morente says Fox’s visa granted her only the privilege to engage in missionary work and not in political activities.

The order was issued on Monday. She is ordered to leave the country within 30 days from receipt of the order.

If she still wishes to enter the country, BI says she may do so as a tourist.

The Commission on Human Rights warns that the arrest of Sister Patricia Fox without basis can set a dangerous precedent for foreign human rights workers. 

It says framing the work of foreigners in the field of human rights as "interference" without concrete basis may discourage them from doing important missionary and humanitarian work in the country.

"It is hoped that such an incident, which impacts basic rights and erodes dignity of those affected, will not be repeated," CHR adds while urging the government to follow proper procedures and protocols to ensure rule of law.

President Rodrigo Duterte takes full responsibility for the detention of Australian lay missionary Patricia Fox and says he ordered her investigation for "disorderly conduct."

In a speech at the change-of-command ceremony at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Wednesday, Duterte tells Fox that she does not have the rights to criticize him. 

It is unclear when Fox allegedly criticized Duterte, but Kilusan ng Mambubukid ng Pilipinas said on Monday that it believes the nun was apprehended for joining the International Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission (IFFSM) in Southern Mindanao that called for a probe into alleged killings and human rights violations against farmers.

Duterte: The only reason she was released was she was not caught 'berating' the government. | @abmorallo

— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) April 18, 2018

The Bureau of Immigration releases from its custody rights and land reform advocate Patricia “Sister Pat” Fox who was nabbed for her reported violation of country’s law banning participation in any political assembly.

The 71-year-old lay missionary was detained in the immigrations office Monday afternoon. Her arrest came only a day after BI deported Giacomo Filibeck, an official of the Party of European Socialists.