THE Justice Department says it welcomes the plan of a lawyers’ group to question the Bureau of Immigration’s order prohibiting foreigners from joining rallies in the country.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the comment after the National Union of People’s Lawyers said it would file a case questioning the restriction outlined in a 2015 order to the bureau signed by then Justice secretary Leila de Lima.
“The DoJ welcomes any legal action questioning the state’s sovereign right to restrict the participation of aliens in domestic political activities and internal affairs of our country,” Guevarra said in a text message Saturday.
In other developments:
• Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday accused President Rodrigo Duterte of openly lying to the global community and thus alienating itself whenever it denies the existence of extra-judicial killings.
“The whole world knows about it and these deaths have been witnessed and documented by multiple credible sectors, individuals and organizations both foreign and domestic,” Trillanes said.
• Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday expressed dismay with the European Union’s alleged meddling in the affairs of the Philippine government.
“The Europeans are micro-managing us,” Pimentel said.
“They want to run our laws on illegal drugs and even the Department of Justice. Their interference is too much.”
• A US State Department report citing concerns over the “police killings” in the Philippines should be taken as constructive criticism, the Commission on Human Rights said Sunday.
Commission spokeswoman Jacqueline de Guia said they hoped the government would see the US report as an opportunity to show the world that the Philippines’ criminal justice system was working.
“It is important that we show our investigations are moving towards accountability,” she said.
• Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Saturday President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against crime and illegal drugs protects the human rights of Filipinos.
Reacting to the US State Department’s latest human rights report on the Philippines, Cayetano said the government’s campaign against criminality and trade in illegal drugs “seeks to promote the welfare and human rights of all Filipinos and stop the country from becoming a narco-state.”
In a statement on Saturday, the NUPL said it believes Immigration’s Operation Order SBM-2015-025, “which prohibits foreigners from joining, supporting, contributing or involving themselves in whatever manner in any rally, assembly or gathering whether for or against the government” is unconstitutional.
The group issued the statement after immigration authorities apprehended 71-year-old Australian nun Patricia Anne Fox in her home in Quezon City.
Fox was arrested Monday and was detained at the BI office in Manila, where she stayed overnight.
She was ordered released on Tuesday after Immigration established that she holds a valid missionary visa and a properly documented alien.
Fox was arrested following reports that she violated the conditions of her stay by engaging in political activities and anti-government demonstrations.
Fox, who has been living in the country for 27 years, has made human rights and helping peasants her advocacies. She was arrested in 2013 for reportedly joining the protests in Hacienda Luisita.
On Thursday, Malacañang said foreigners were prohibited by law to engage in any political activity in the country.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. mentioned the prohibition in relation to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s order to probe Fox.
Roque said the Australian national was now under preliminary investigation to determine if she should be deported. with Macon Ramos-Araneta