Sister Fox to elevate deportation case to DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — Vowing to exhaust all legal remedies available, Sister Patricia Fox on Friday said that she will elevate her deportation case to the Department of Justice.

Fox’s camp on Friday said that they will file an appeal before the DOJ on Monday in hope that the department will not “prejudge her case.”

In appealing her complaint, Fox argued that the bureau's “judicial notice” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s branding of the nun as an “undesirable alien” meant that it has already prejudged her case. 

The Immigration bureau on August 29 has upheld its deportation order against Fox, saying that she failed to present new matters in her motion for reconsideration that would warrant a reversal of the ruling.

The BI said that Fox has 30 days to appeal her case, or she would have to be temporarily held by the agency.

Fox’s camp vowed to exhaust all legal remedies to overturn the deportation order. Lawyer Maria Sol Taule said that they are willing to elevate the case up to the Supreme Court if the need arises.

Fox, for her part, said in the televised press conference said in Filipino: “I want to say that I want to fight for this case until the end. I asked for a renewal of my visa to see this case until the end.” She added that she wants to continue helping Filipinos.

The Australian nun has spent 27 years in the country, helping those behind bars, indigenous peoples and land reform advocates.

Visa renewal

Fox will also seek for a clarification of her status as her missionary visa is about to expire on September 5, her camp said in a separate statement.

Fox, through her lawyer Jojo Pahilga, applied for a visa renewal last August 20 at the BI main office in Intramuros.

Pahilga stressed that the deportation case against Fox is different from her motion to renew her visa. “They can renew the visa subject to the deportation case,” the lawyer said.

Fox's camp also claimed that her complaint is a case for “human rights defenders and other international friends who wanted to extend solidarity with the Philippines.”

They added that they do not want Fox’s case to be a “precedent” for other foreign missionary workers who just want to extend help to Filipinos.

Duterte has admitted to ordering the investigation into Fox. He has repeatedly vented his ire at Fox in his later speeches, saying that the Australian elderly nun has a “shameful mouth.”

But her camp said in a statement: “[Fox] is determined to continue her missionary work among the poor and the oppressed, not on the narrow and misleading definition of the BI on what this constitutes."

Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval stressed that foreign nationals are not allowed to join rallies in the country.

“We understand that she has a heart for the people, but her actions must remain within the boundaries set by the laws of the land. It is the responsibility of the BI to ensure that foreign nationals, male or female, young or old, follow Philippine laws, in the same manner that our kababayans abroad follow the laws of the country they are in,” she added.