Patricia Fox

I will not say anything about whether or not the Philippine government has a valid case in wanting to deport Australian missionary Patricia Fox. Neither will I say anything about whether or not Fox has a valid case in resisting the deportation order against her.

Let me just say that I find great discomfort in her refusal to see what her relationship really is with the Philippines. Fox, for whatever reason she is here in the Philippines, is a guest in this sovereign country and will remain so unless she acquires some other status that changes that fact.

As a guest, the stay of Fox in the Philippines is subject to the goodwill of the host country. Why this reality seems lost on Fox when it is very clear and perfectly understood by anyone who happens to be in a foreign country just escapes me. Perhaps it is instructive that even her home country Australia has not lifted a finger to join her case against the Philippine government.

There are millions of Filipinos spread over almost every other country in the world. Most of them employed legal means to be there. But many also probably did not. But legal or not, I have yet to hear of a Filipino resist deportation when told to leave, or at least not in the same manner that Fox is resisting.

Perhaps it is because she is a missionary and quite frail and advanced in age that the Philippine government seems to be treating her gingerly and with undue deference. And it may be for the same reasons that the general Filipino population is reluctantly ignoring her effrontery against Filipino sovereignty.

Missionary or not, frail and elderly or not, Fox is no different from someone who comes into your home but does not leave when told to.

And the sad and sorry part in this entire unfortunate episode is that she makes it appear that the homeowner is the one at fault and is the bad guy.

To be sure, Fox has her rights as a person. But the fact that she has does not necessarily and in any way curtail and diminish the rights of the Philippines to exercise its own rights as a sovereign state. I am pretty sure her own country Australia will not give up its own sovereign rights either.

Fox can thank her lucky stars that she is in the Philippines. Had she tried her antics in some other country that is not as wobbly as the Philippines in asserting its sovereign rights, I doubt if Fox would be able to stay as long as she is doing in a country that does not want her.