Australian nun Patricia Fox during her release from detention at the Bureau of Immigration (File photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Forcing Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox to leave the country by cancelling her missionary visa will go down in history as one of the Duterte administration’s “cowardly acts,” former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales said on Wednesday.
“The forfeiture of visa and order to leave for Sister Patricia Fox will go down in history as one of the Duterte government’s cowardly acts,” Rosales said in a statement.
READ: Palace says Fox must leave PH for violating missionary visa rules
She also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to stop running the government “as if it were his own playground.”
Rosales said Duterte’s move to drive away individuals who contradict his ideologies “undermines the integrity of a strong leader in command of himself and capable of listening to diverse opinions on policies of governance.”
She also asked Duterte why was he allergic to individuals fighting for their rights.
She added that instead of having a perception that Duterte was a tough leader, the Chief Executive has been showing characteristics of a “weak leader.”
“Why is President Duterte so allergic to human rights advocates? Duterte is dragging the whole country to a dark era where human rights defenders are threatened and sent away while violators are placed in power,” she said.
“With the deportation spree, Duterte is in danger of projecting himself – contrary to his machismo and bravado – as a weak leader, afraid of his own shadow and unable to cope with the rigors of democratic rule, losing his credibility altogether in the complex and diverse field of governance and rule of law,” she added. /je
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