THE Bureau of Immigration on Tuesday released from its custody Sister Patricia Fox, a 71-year-old Catholic nun from Australia, a day after she was arrested in her convent for allegedly violating immigration laws by engaging in political activities and anti-government demonstrations.
Fox was brought to the bureau late afternoon due to reports that she violated the conditions of her stay by joining a protest action with farmers last year.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente approved the recommendation of the BI legal division headed by lawyer Arvin Cesar Santos that Fox be released for further investigation after it was established that the Australian nun holds a valid missionary visa
Fox reportedly submitted her passport and other immigration documents showing that she was issued her missionary visa on Oct. 15 last year and that said visa is valid until Sept. 9 this year.
In a two-page Note with Recommendation to Morente, Santos noted that while Fox was alleged to have taken part in protest actions by farmers in the past, she was not doing so at the time Immigration agents arrested her Monday.
Santos said Fox is not covered by inquest proceedings because these only apply to aliens arrested after being caught in the act of violating immigration laws.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said Fox’s case “has nothing to do with her being a nun, nor with her personal advocacies.”
“But like any other foreigner enjoying the privilege of staying in our country, she has to obey and comply with our laws,” he added.
Various groups condemned the arrest of Fox, saying it is part of the government’s crackdown against critics and human rights defenders.
Fox’s lawyer Jobert Bahilga said the allegation that she engated in partisan activities was not true.
“She has been in the Philippines for almost 27 years doing advocacy work for farmers,” he said.
Fox, a missionary of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, joined an international fact-finding mission in the southern Philippines this month to look into reported violations of the rights of farmers and indigenous people, Bahilga added.
Rights groups criticized Fox’s detention as a warrantless arrest.
The Philippines on Sunday deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had condemned “extrajudicial killings” in Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown.
Like Fox, the immigration bureau had accused Filibeck of violating laws barring foreigners from engaging in political activities.
Duterte, 73, has launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs that has left thousands dead.
He has lashed out at foreign critics of his drug war, threatening last week to arrest the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, who has begun a preliminary examination of whether the campaign amounted to state-sanctioned mass murder.
Rights groups said the incidents involving Fox and Filibeck were part of a crackdown on foreign activists.
“This shows the international community that the democratic space in the Philippines is shrinking. We are not just concerned and alarmed but we view these actions as despicable,” Amnesty International Philippines human rights officer Wilnor Papa said.
“If the government is threatened by a 71-year-old nun, there is something really wrong with the government.”
Manila Catholic Bishop Broderick Pabillo also condemned the detention.
“They don’t even mind if they are nuns or if they are old. There is no humanity here. People should realize the government has a tendency of being dictatorial,” Pabillo said.
The group Promotion of Church People’s Response also condemned the arrest and detention of Fox, who was arrested in her convent and brought to the Bureau of Immigration detention room without any court order.
“When has it become a crime for Church people to exercise their right to preach the Gospel and be in solidarity with the poor?” the religious group asked.
The opposition Liberal Party also assailed the arrest of Fox, saying the crackdown on foreign activists was alarming.
“These incidents will trigger more questions on what the government is trying to conceal,” said Liberal Party president Francis Pangilinan.
Senator Nancy Binay mocked Immigration officials.
“The question is, how can a 71-year-old nun be a threat to society?’” she said.