BI denies Sister Patricia Fox’s appeal to remain in PH

The Bureau of Immigration has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Australian nun Patricia Fox, seeking a reversal of the deportation order issued against her.

This was confirmed on Wednesday by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. However, the Justice chief had earlier said Fox can still take her case to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the President.

Guevarra previously told reporters, “If the BI denies Sister Fox’s MR, the deportation order can still be subject to appeal to the DOJ or the Office of the President (OP).”

“Any adverse ruling of the DOJ or OP may further be reviewed by the courts,” he added.

Fox filed a motion for reconsideration appealing BI’s Board of Commissioners (BOC) July decision ordering her deportation and inclusion in the bureau’s blacklist to prevent her from returning to the country.

The BI found that Fox violated “the limitations and conditions of Commonwealth Act 613, Section 9 (g) missionary visa and undesirable under Article 2711, Section 69 and order her deportation to Australia, subject to her submission of all appropriate clearance and the inclusion of her name in the BI’s blacklist, thus barring her re-entry into the country.”

The bureau cited as the basis for its order several photographs showing that she engaged in several partisan political activities sometime in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

These included incidents where she reportedly demanded the release of political prisoners, joined the rallies for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita, and a labor rally in Davao City.

The BI also considered statements made by President Rodrigo Duterte that the Australian nun is an undesirable alien following her participation in protest rallies.

“In fact, the President even publicly admitted that it was upon his instructions to investigate Fox for disorderly conduct for participating in rallies,” the BI said in its 10-page ruling issued last July.

“The power to deport aliens is lodged in the President of the Republic of the Philippines. The Commissioner of Immigration exercises this power, however, as the qualified political agent of the President. As the administrative alter-ego of the President in deportation cases, the actions of the Commissioner of Immigration relative to the arrest and detention of undesirable aliens are, unless reprobated or disapproved by the President, presumptively the acts of the President,” the BI added.

The nun was invited to the BI main office in Manila last April after the bureau’s Intelligence Division received information that the Australian nun has allegedly been attending protest rallies, fact-finding missions, jail visits, and supporting assemblies against the government.

She was allowed to leave the BI the following day after she surrendered her passport.

The BI issued an order forfeiting Fox’s missionary visa and downgrading it to a tourist visa and directing her to leave the country in 30 days.

However, Fox’s camp filed a petition for review before the DOJ last May 25, questioning the BI’s April 23 and May 17 orders, which denied her motion for reconsideration and supplemental motion for reconsideration, respectively.

Last June 18, the DOJ granted her petition for review and declared the BI’s April 23 and May 17 ruling null and void for having been issued without legal basis.

Her missionary visa was reinstated but without prejudice to the result of a separate cancellation or deportation proceedings.   /vvp