3 foreign missionaries suspected of terrorism, detained
THREE foreign Methodist missionaries who participated in a fact-finding mission in Mindanao have been detained on suspicion of involvement in communist terrorist group-oriented activities.
Zimbabwe citizen Chandiwana Tawanda was arrested last May 9 by Bureau of Immigration (BI) operatives in Davao for alleged overstaying.
The BI has also confiscated the passports of Malawi citizen Miracle Osman and United States citizen Adam Thomas Shaw.
The three missionaries were in the same fact-finding mission as Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox, who is now the subject of deportation proceedings.
BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said the arrest of Tawanda was legal.
"[There is] no illegal arrest. All actions were conducted in compliance with regular immigration procedures," she said.
The BI spokesperson declined to give further details regarding the case. "It is early to give updates as case is still with our legal division," she said.
The three missionaries participated in the International Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission (IFFSM) that looked into the reported cases of human rights violations in Mindanao under the Duterte administration.
In a resolution filed on Monday, July 2, the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives called for an inquiry into the alleged illegal arrest and retention of passports of the three Methodist missionaries.
Tawanda was charged with overstaying despite the fact that he was already in the process of applying for a tourist visa as his missionary visa was then nearing expiration when he was arrested.
The basis of arrest and the confiscation of the passports of the missionaries, according to the BI, is the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) report listing 22 foreigners, including the three as involved in communist terrorist group-oriented activities.
The United Methodist Church Philippine Central Conference Board of Church and Society said it believes that the violations committed against the foreign missionaries have something to do with their participation in the fact-finding mission.
The Makabayan bloc claimed that the "violations against Tawanda, Osman and Shaw are the newest acts from the Duterte government's crackdown on foreign missionaries."
The bloc further said that the BI violated international human rights laws, namely, the illegal detention of a foreign national, illegal retention of foreign passports, the depravation of right, liberty, movement and right to return protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and political persecution against these foreign activists.
Members of the Makabayan bloc are ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago, Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate.