Fox asks DOJ to review deportation order

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:33 p.m.) — Sister Patricia Fox on Monday asked the Department of Justice to rule on her deportation case without the influence of President Rodrigo Duterte, who publicly called her an “undesirable alien.”

Fox and her lawyers filed a Petition for Review before the DOJ, in a bid to overturn the Bureau of Immigration’s deportation order against the Australian nun.

In a statement from Fox’s camp, they said that the Australian missionary “asked the DOJ not to prejudge her case like what the BI has done.”

This was Fox’s argument when they appealed the deportation order issued last July. Her camp accused the Immigration of “prejudging” her case when it took “judicial notice” of the president’s pronouncements against her.

But the Immigration on August 29, upheld its earlier ruling and ordered Fox deported.

Fox said that the Immigration bureau focused mainly on Duterte’s statements and “not on the merits of the case.”

“What we are saying here is that Sister Pat did not involve herself in so-called political activities but she was doing fact-finding missions, humanitarian missions that she has been doing in the past 27 years,” lawyer Kathy Panguban told reporters.

The Immigration, however, stressed that the deportation order was issued due to Fox’s violation of the “limitations and conditions of Commonwealth Act 612, Section 9 (g) missionary visa and undesirable under Article 2711, Section 69.”

Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval earlier said: “Sister Fox clearly violated the limitation and conditions of her visa, which specifically allowed her to engage in missionary and religious work, not political activities in the Philippines."

Fox’s camp also sought to be given a chance to have a dialogue with Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

Guevarra, in a message to reporters, said he has also read Fox’s request for dialogue but added that he would just reply to her in writing due to the "shortness of the notice."

Visa status

Earlier on Monday, Fox and her lawyers went to the Immigration to be given clarification on the status of her visa.

Her missionary visa would expire on September 5, but Guevarra on Friday said that the Immigration might downgrade Fox’s visa into a tourist one.

This, however, is “for a limited period, subject to outcome of any further proceedings on the deportation issue,” added the justice chief.

Panguban said they need to secure a clearance from the Immigration to renew Fox’s visa, but the bureau could not issue one due to the pending deportation case.

In a separate interview with reporters at the Immigration on Monday morning, Panguban said in a mix of Filipino and English that “under the rules, if the renewal for missionary visa is declined or denied, automatically it will be downgraded to tourist visa.”

She said this was also the information told to them by the bureau.

Fox, for her part, said she was surprised with the deportation order as she has been in the Philippines for 28 years and she “[has not] done anything different in the last couple of years.”

In a separate statement posted by the “Hands Off Sr. Patricia Fox” Facebook page, the Australian nun said she does not harbor an illusion that the Philippines would collapse when she leaves.

She stressed: "What I am fighting for is the principle that one can't just be thrown out of a country arbitrarily. It's the principle that foreigners like myself have the right to express our solidarity with the poor without fear."

Several groups have criticized the deportation order against Fox as a crackdown on foreign missionaries conducting fact-finding missions—an accusation denied by the Immigration bureau.

Fox and her team vowed to exhaust all legal remedies to overturn her case. They said they would take the case to the Supreme Court, if necessary.