DOJ ruling on nun’s case out in 30 days

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will decide in 30 days whether Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox should be deported, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Sunday.

“I have directed Sister Fox, through counsel, and the Bureau of Immigration to submit their respective memoranda on the deportation case within a nonextendible period of 30 days,” he said in a text message to reporters.

“After that period lapses, the DOJ will resolve Sister Fox’s appeal, with or without the memoranda,” Guevarra said.

The 72-year-old Fox is fighting for her right to stay in the Philippines, where she has lived for almost three decades, after BI officials canceled her missionary visa over her alleged participation in rallies.

Her visa has been downgraded to a temporary visitor’s, giving her only 59 days on Philippine soil, a period which ends on Nov. 3.