Rights group calls for release of foreign missionaries

MANILA, Philippines — A human rights group on Friday called on the Philippine government to release a detained missionary from Zimbabwe and allow him and two other foreign missionaries to leave the country.

United Methodist Church missionary Tawanda Chandiwana, 28, has been held since May 9 on the suspicion of being a subversive. The Zimbabwe citizen has denied any wrongdoing.

Chandiwana was detained less than a month after Australian nun Patricia Fox was held by the Bureau of Immigration for supposedly participating in partisan political activities.

He and other missionaries—Miracle Osman (24) from Malawi and Adam Shaw (29) from United States—were detained at police checkpoints in February while taking part in an international fact-finding investigation of alleged human rights violations in Mindanao.

The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries said that Osman’s passport was confiscated as she was extending a tourist visa while waiting for her missionary visa to be approved, while Shaw was informed that a leave order is imminent but it has not been served.

“We call on the Duterte administration to stop the harassment and attacks against missionaries and human rights defenders,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.

Palabay claimed that the Duterte administration is “using and distorting” the country’s immigration laws to go after foreign missionaries.

“Tumutulong na nga sa mga Pilipino, ginigipit niyo pa. They are also merely exercising their right to provide international support and solidarity,” she said.

United Methodist bishops earlier appealed to the Philippine government for the immediate release of the three missionaries, stressing they “pose no threat to the peace and tranquiliity” of the country.

“Our request is that Chandiwana be released from detention, granted an exit visa and be allowed to leave the country as expeditiously as possible. We ask that Osman’s passport be returned and she be granted an exit visa and that Shaw be allowed to depart safely,” the bishops said.