DOJ continues review of Sister Fox appeal vs deportation

The Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to review the appeal of Australian missionary nun Patricia Fox not to be deported from the Philippines.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that at the moment the DOJ has asked the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to comment on the petition for review Fox filed last Sept. 3.

“We are waiting for the BI comments and the complete records pa,” Guevarra told reporters yesterday.

Fox filed at the DOJ her petition for review of the Aug. 23 resolution of the BI which affirmed its July 19 deportation order against her.

“Wherefore, premises considered, the petitioner (Fox) respectfully moves that the Order dated 19 July 2018 as affirmed by the Order dated August 23, 2018 be reversed and set aside,” read her petition filed by her lawyers from the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL).

Apart from following President Duterte’s directive to have her kicked out of the country, the BI based its deportation order on the report of intelligence officer Melody Penelope Gonzales that Fox participated in a rally last April in front of Coca-Cola’s Davao City distribution center.

“The petitioner maintains that she did not violate the terms and conditions of her missionary visa since the documents submitted by the Bureau of Immigration, through Agent Gonzales, did not show that the petitioner was engaged in anti-government activities but are consistent with her missionary work of promoting peace, social justice and human rights; that, therefore, would not make her an undesirable alien for her work was much desired by the people she served—the farmers, the indigenous people, the workers, the poor and the marginalized,” read her petition.

Fox also pointed out in her petition that what she did is part of her exercise of her freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Constitution.

“To reiterate, when the petitioner joins rallies and fact-finding missions and similar activities, she is not violating the law. She is merely exercising her right, and she can do so whether the same is part of her missionary work or not, since such right is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution. She is afforded the same protection enjoyed by Filipino citizens,” the petition stated.

The Aussie nun also reminded that Gonzales “has the burden of showing that the political activities participated by the petitioner are anti-government activities or protest actions against the policies of the government which would be act aliens are not allowed to be involved in.