MANILA – Immigration authorities may have made a mistake in arresting an Australian missionary in the Philippines, a Malacañang official said.
Sister Patricia Fox of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion was accosted by Bureau of Immigration personnel on Monday in her house in Quezon City for allegedly joining antigovernment rallies.
She was detained at the bureau’s intelligence division in Intramuros but was released Tuesday after submitting her passport and other immigration documents showing her missionary visa was valid until Sept. 9 this year.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said there is a law barring foreign nationals from meddling with local politics.
“Meron naman pong batas talaga iyan, na ang mga dayuhan hindi dapat naghihimasok sa pulitika natin, at kahit sino namang gobyerno talagang ayaw nila na manghimasok ang mga dayuhan,” Roque said in a television interview.
Fox is also a human rights activist known for her work with farmers and other marginalized sectors.
According to Roque, her arrest may have been a mistake on the part of the Immigration bureau.
“Mukhang nagkamali dito kay Sister Fox, at siguro apologies are in order, kasi madali naman siyang pinalabas din ng CID (Commission on Immigration and Deportation). So, siguro nagkakamali din naman ng CID,” said Roque.
On the other hand, the spokesman said, there was sufficient basis to deport Italian activist Giacomo Filibeck.
On Sunday Filibeck, blocked from entering the Philippines, was held upon arrival at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
A deputy secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists of the European Union, Filibeck was supposed to attend a two-day Akbayan Party Congress in Cebu. The EU is critical of the Duterte administration’s bloody crackdown on drugs.
“Malinaw naman po ang basehan diyan: napunta siya rito, magpa-participate sa isang political convention, [bagay] na pinagbabawal ng ating batas,” Roque explained.
“Wala po siyang karapatan na makapasok, at meron tayong kapangyarihan na tanggihan ang mga dayuhan na pumasok sa ating teritoryo,” Roque added./PN
