The Bureau of Immigration (BI) detained a 71-year-old Australian Catholic nun Sister Patricia Fox over allegations that she is an “undesirable alien,” Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News reported on Monday, April 16.
CBCP News said Fox, mother superior of the Our Lady of Sion congregation in the Philippines, was arrested by six immigration authorities at their mission house in Quezon City at around 2pm on Monday.
BI spokesperson Antonette Mangrobang said Fox, who is a known human rights advocate, was apprehended pursuant to a mission order issued by BI Commissioner Jaime Morente.
“We await completion of the investigation before we issue our official statement. Thank you,” Mangrobang noted.
The missionary nun is currently detained at the BI Intelligence division in Intramuros, Manila. According to CBCP News, Fox has been on medication for a spinal cord illness.
Fox’s lawyer, Atty. Jobert Pahilga, stressed that the nun is facing deportation for her alleged involvement in protest rallies.
Pahilga said the fiscal in-charged of the inquest recommended Fox’s release if she could produce her passport; however, it was not with her as Fox gave her passport to the travel agency that arranges her flight back to Australia in May.
Fox, for her part, told the CBCP that she has been in and out of the country several times but was “never been questioned.”
“The immigration bureau has not said anything on what to do with my missionary visa,” Fox explained.
Fox, the CBCP News said, has worked in the Philippines for 27 years helping farmers and indigenous peoples (IPs).
The missionary nun recently joined an international fact-finding and solidarity mission that look into human rights abuses against farmers and Lumads in Mindanao.
CBCP News added that Fox had been detained in 2013 “for joining protests in Hacienda Luisita but was released without charges.”
Fox’s arrest came after an official of the Party of European Socialists (PES) was barred by immigration officials in Cebu to enter the Philippines on April 15, Sunday. Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary-general of the PES, was handed with a slip which shows that he is required to fulfill the “Black List Order (BLO) Lifting” before he can enter the country.