Justice department allows Australian nun to stay

June 18, 2018

The Department of Justice on Monday granted an Australian nun's petition for review following an order by the Bureau of Immigration forfeiting her missionary visa and ordering her to leave in 30 days.

On the last day of the 30-day period given to Sister Patricia Fox to leave the country, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Bureau of Immigration's forfeiture of Fox’s visa was “without legal basis.”

In a resolution, Guevarra said: “Our existing immigration laws outline what the BI can do to foreigners and their papers, including visas, when they commit certain acts within Philippine territory. What the BI did in this case is beyond what the law provides. That is why it has to be struck down.” .

“This Office cannot sanction BI’s resort to a visa forfeiture procedure, and the (BI)’s orders against (Fox), which result therefrom. To hold otherwise will legitimize (BI’s) assertion of a power that does not exists in our laws,” Guevarra said.

Guevarra ordered the Bureau of Immigration to determine if the charge and evidence against Fox make out a case for visa cancellation.

“The BI treated this as a case for visa forfeiture instead of one for visa cancellation. As a result, the bureau has yet to decide whether the supposed actions of Fox do indeed justify the cancellation of her visa,” he said.

Fox, who has been in the Philippines for 27 years, was arrested by immigration authorities, in April. She was accused of participating in political activities and fact-finding missions, a charge her lawyers deny and contend is part of her religious and pro-peasant advocacy work.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the 71-year old nun investigated for “disorderly conduct.” DMS