MANILA, Philippines — “Temporary victory.”
That was how an elderly Australian nun fighting deportation after landing in President Rodrigo Duterte’s crosshairs described the Department of Justice’s order that gave her more time to stay in the Philippines, as she also vowed to remain watchful as the case develops.
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Patricia Fox, 71, was given until June 18, 2018 to leave the country following a last-minute appeal to the DOJ to reverse the leave order handed down by the Bureau of Immigration against her.
She was supposed to leave by Friday, May 25.
“The issuance of the DOJ order is our temporary victory. However, Sister Fox and her lawyers will not remain complacent since it seemed that it was no less than the most powerful man in the country, the president, who wants her out of the country,” Fox’s camp said in a statement Saturday.
In a two-page document, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered the BI to comment on Fox’s petition for review within a non-extendable period of 10 days.
The Melbourne native nun, in turn, was told to file her reply within five days from receipt of the BI’s comment.
Duterte, who has defied international pressure and has strongly rejected criticisms of his human rights record, easily won the race to Malacañang on a brutal law and order platform.
The hypersensitive president has accused the Australian nun of having a “shameful mouth” and of treating the Philippines like a “mattress to wipe your feet”.
Fox has spent nearly three decades helping the poor and fighting for land rights in tribal communities in the Philippines. The Immigration bureau last Wednesday ordered the forfeiture of her missionary visa for allegedly engaging in political activities in the country.
“If the Bureau of Immigration's order will be upheld, the case of Sister Pat will set a dangerous precedent on foreigners engaged in missionary or solidarity works within the Philippines, especially those who are working and immersing with the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized,” Fox’s camp said.
“This is a serious threat and blatant attack to the universally recognized rights to freedom of expression and peaceably assemble,” they added.
Last month, Italian politician Giacomo Filibeck, a vocal critic of Duterte’s deadly drug war, was barred from entering the country.
But Duterte had repeatedly denied ordering a crackdown against dissent, saying he has never sent a critic to jail “except if you’re a foreigner because that is another thing.”