Sister Fox ‘happy, surprised’ with favorable DOJ order

Sister Patricia Fox was happy but surprised with the news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) reversed the Bureau of Immigration’s order to cancel her Australian missionary visa, paving the way for his continued stay in the country for now.

“I just heard that. I’m very happy,” Sister Fox said in a phone interview with reporters just minutes after the DOJ announced its decision.

The DOJ has ruled that the decision of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to forfeit her missionary visa over alleged participation in partisan activities was “without legal basis.”

READ: DOJ reverses BI’s ruling: Sister Patricia Fox is staying in PH

When asked if she was thinking about other things when the DOJ made the announcement, Sister Fox said she was just too happy to think of anything else: “No. I’m just pleased (with the ruling).”

The 71-year-old missionary said the DOJ’s decision was unexpected. “I’m quite surprised, actually,” she told reporters.

Sister Fox, an Australian nun, has been staying in the Philippines for the more than 27 years, doing charity work for indigenous peoples, oppressed workers, and the urban poor.

Though she has won the appeal, this issue is far from over as the DOJ has ordered the BI to hear the deportation case against her.

“We will just have to wait and see what happens, whether that affects the deportation case because that is separate from the visa issue,” the 71-year old nun said. /ee