An Australian nun ordered to leave the Philippines won a reprieve from imminent deportation on June 18 but is still subject to proceedings to kick her out. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, was briefly detained in April after Duterte ordered her arrest, accusing her of political activism that violated the rules of her visa. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) — The Department of Justice has nullified the orders earlier issued by the Bureau of Immigration which forfeited the missionary visa of Australian nun Patricia Anne Fox, declaring the bureau’s actions as “without legal basis.”
In a resolution issued on Monday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra explained that while Philippine immigration laws give broad powers to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) regarding the entry and stay of foreigners in the country, “visa forfeiture is not one of them.”
“Our existing immigration laws outline what the BI can do to foreigners and their papers, including visas – when they commit certain acts within Philippine territory,” Guevarra said.
The DOJ chief said that the immigration bureau did was “beyond what the law provides.”
“That is why it has to be struck down,” he said.
With the DOJ resolution, the Australian nun was given another chance to stay on as missionary in the Philippines pending the final resolution of the case for visa cancellation and deportation earlier filed by the immigration bureau.
-Australian nun can stay as a missionary-
“Until a final resolution of the visa cancellation and/or deportation proceedings is reached, or until the expiration of her missionary visa, whichever comes first, Sister Fox may continue to perform her duties as a missionary in the Philippines,” Guevarra
decided.
While Guevarra agreed with the bureau’s contention that a “visa is a privilege,” it doesn’t mean that it can be “withdrawn without legal basis.”
He said the bureau cannot create new procedures or new grounds on withdrawing a “visa already granted to a foreigner.”
Before the DOJ resolution nullifying the BI orders, the immigration service earlier cancelled Fox’s visa, directing her to leave the Philippines by Monday.
Sister Patricia Fox, 71, was briefly detained in April after the immigration bureau said that the nun’s political activism, including her joining and speaking in a rally, violated the rules of her visa.
The DOJ said that it cannot permit the immigration bureau’s action of forfeiting Fox’s missionary visa.
“To hold otherwise will legitimize (the Bureau of Immigration’s) assertion of power that does not exist in our laws,” he said in the DOJ resolution.
-Visa cancellation case-
But Guevarra pointed out that the case filed against the Australian nun for visa cancellation is a procedure that can continue as it is “allowed by the law and the rules.
He ordered the immigration bureau to ascertain whether the charge and the evidence against Fox make out a case for visa cancellation, for which specific grounds are stated in the law.
“The BI treated this as a case for visa forfeiture instead of one for visa cancellation. As a result, the Bureau has yet to decide whether the supposed actions of Fox do indeed justify the cancellation of her visa,” Guevarra said.
He said that the case will be returned to the immigration bureau for “its proper disposition” as it would be “premature for us at the DOJ to decide that matter now.”
He then directed the bureau of hear the visa cancellation case, along with the deportation case, against Fox which is already pending with the Bureau. (With Moira Encina, Eagle News Service)