CHR praises Sister Fox’s ‘dedication’ to human rights cause in PH

FILE: Australian nun Patricia Fox (Photo by Roy Lagarde/CBCP News)

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) praised Australian missionary nun Patricia Fox for her dedication to push for the rights of every Filipino.

“Founded on the universality of human rights, being a foreign national did not prevent her from dedication almost three decades of her life addressing, within her means, an array of injustices and violations against the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our country,” the CHR, through its spokesperson, lawyer Jacqueline de Guia, said on Monday, November 5.

“We recognize with gratitude the dedication of Sister Patricia Fox to the human rights cause in the Philippines, especially for our farmers, laborers, and the urban poor,” it added.

The CHR also reminded the government of its “human rights obligations” to all people in the country whether they are Filipinos or not, “in line with the human rights conventions it has accepted in the interest of upholding the dignity of all.”

De Guia issued this statement following Fox’s departure from the Philippines which served as her home for nearly three decades.

The missionary nun, who has been accused of engaging in “political activities” prohibited among foreigners, left the country on Saturday after the Bureau of Immigration (BI) rejected her request to extend her temporary visitor’s visa. Fox’s missionary visa expired last September 5, however, she was given a temporary visitor’s visa valid for 59 days, or only until November 3.

Before she leaves the country, Fox left a farewell message to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Sana nakikinig siya sa daing ng mga maliit na tao, hindi lang ang military, hindi lang ang mga business people, pero ang mga urban poor, mga magsasaka, mga manggagawa, mga katutubo (I hope he listens to the complaints of ordinary people, not just the military, not just the business people, but also to the urban poor, the farmers, the workers, the indigenous people),” she said in a press conference after her farewell mass at Saint Joseph’s Church in Quezon City.

It was in April when Fox, a human rights advocate, was arrested pursuant to a mission order issued by BI Commissioner Jaime Morente but was released the following day for further investigation.

A few days after, Duterte admitted that he was the one who ordered the bureau to conduct an investigation on Fox for her alleged “disorderly conduct” but denied that he ordered her arrest and deportation.