DOJ chief orders BI to answer Fox petition

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. TOTO LOZANO / PRESIDENTIAL FILE PHOTO

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday ordered the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to comment on the petition filed by Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox seeking a reversal of the April ruling downgrading her Missionary Visa to a Temporary Tourist Visa.

The BI has 10 days to submit its comment while Sister Fox has five days to submit a reply to the comment. Both deadlines are non-extendible.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) also clarified that the 30-day deadline by the BI for Fox to leave the country was not May 25 but June 18.

Guevarra said the running of the 30-day period given by the BI stopped when Sister Fox filed her motion for reconsideration before the BI on the fifth day of the 30-day period.

“Upon the denial of said Motion for Reconsideration, petitioner had a remaining period of 25 days from May 24, 2018, the date when she was served a copy of the Order denying her motion for reconsideration or until June 18, 2018, within which to leave the country,” Guevarra said in his order released Friday evening. /jpv

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