The world on notice
Two foreigners recently made the news. One is Sister Patricia Fox, a frail-looking 71-year-old missionary nun who has lived in the country for 27 years. She holds a missionary visa, valid until September, 2018. Sister Pat, as she is commonly known, is a human rights advocate. She was arrested by agents of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on BI Commissioner Jaime Morente's order. She was deemed an "undesirable alien" due to her participation in partisan political activities. In other words, this administration did not like her actions. The arrest and detention of Sister Pat was a matter of concern by the Australian Embassy, which sent a representative to the nun's detention center. The church was also informed.
Sister Pat was temporarily released by the inquest fiscal, because "there was no finding of probable cause" but on condition she produce her passport. Apparently, her passport was with a travel agent arranging her trip back to Australia. In other words, she was already leaving the country. If she does not produce her passport, she may be labeled an "undocumented alien" which may be grounds for deportation. But many are asking, is a 71-year-old nun a threat to this administration, that warrants special attention from the BI commissioner himself, and does she actually deserve to be arrested and detained? If she was already preparing to leave, why all the fuss, which only drew undue attention, once again, to this administration, to this country?
The other foreigner was not allowed to enter the country outright. Giacomo Filibeck, the deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists (PES), was not allowed by the BI to enter the country. He arrived in Cebu, to attend a two-day congress of the Akbayan Party. But because of his past illegal political activities in the country, we was denied entry and immediately deported. The PES was critical of President Duterte's bloody campaign against illegal drugs. According to the Palace, Filibeck's deportation was an exercise in sovereignty. I guess sovereignty is dependent on who wields power at the Palace.
The Duterte administration has given notice to the whole world. If it does not like or appreciate what you have said or done, or will say or do with regards to human rights or anything that is critical of the administration of President Duterte, then the country is off-limits. This administration has weaponized its agencies to act on this very premise. Anyone having anything to do with human rights is probably flagged at the BI database. Anyone critical of Duterte's war on drugs cannot enter. This makes Duterte's threat to arrest anyone from the International Criminal Court as real as it gets.
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