Only those who have “the most to hide” will gain from the removal of Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox from the country, human rights group Karapatan said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said the order for Fox to leave the country was clearly an “act of reprisal” for her missionary work and human rights advocacy in the Philippines.
Fox was ordered by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to leave the country in 30 days after her missionary visa was forfeited by the agency’s three-member board of commissioners due to “her involvement in partisan politics.”
READ: BI orders Australian nun Patricia Fox: Leave PH in 30 days
The BI said Fox’s activities were “not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa.” The 71-year-old Australian missionary’s camp had repeatedly denied the accusations.
“The so-called evidence of her “partisan political activities” has no basis as they were expressions of her missionary work and driven by the principles of social justice and human rights,” Palabay insisted.
She added that the rights group stands by Fox, whose work among peasants, workers, political prisoners, indigenous peoples, urban poor, and other oppressed sectors is “most appreciated by the Filipino people.”
“Only those who despise the poor despise someone like Sister Pat and would want her out of the Philippines,” Palabay said. /ee