MANILA – Australian nun Patricia Fox got the respite she wished after the Department of Justice nullified a Bureau of Immigration order forfeiting her missionary visa.
The Immigration bureau’s forfeiture of the visa and order for Fox to leave the Philippines within 30 days was “without legal basis,” Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a statement released Monday.
While Philippine immigration laws give the bureau broad powers in regulating the entry and stay of aliens, visa forfeiture is not part of those powers, Guevarra said.
“What the [Immigration] did in this case is beyond what the law provides. This is why we struck down [the order],” he said.
A visa is a “privilege” but this does not mean it can be withdrawn without legal basis, said the secretary.
The Immigration “cannot simply create new procedures or new grounds to withdraw a visa already granted to a foreigner,” he added. “To hold otherwise will legitimize [its] assertion of a power that does not exist in our laws.”
On April 16 Immigration operatives apprehended Fox in light of a mission order issued by Commissioner Jaime Morente for allegedly violating the conditions of her stay by engaging in anti-government demonstrations. She was released the following day.
On May 17 the Immigration ordered Fox to leave the Philippines, forfeiting her missionary visa over allegations that she violated the conditions of her stay and gave her a temporary visitor’s visa valid for 30 days.
On May 25 Fox filed a petition before the Justice department seeking the reversal of the order. She argued that her visa was forfeited without due process and there was no solid evidence that she engaged in political activities. The Immigration dismissed these.
The bureau said Fox acted beyond allowed activities under her visa by working outside Barangay Amihan, Quezon City, where she claimed she would render her missionary work when she applied for her visa.
Strict rules on evidence do not apply to immigration cases – administrative proceedings requiring only the lowest quantum of evidence, the Immigration stated in its order.
But Guevarra said that while the Justice department ruled that Fox’s missionary visa remains valid, the Immigration must ascertain whether the charge and the evidence against the nun merit a visa cancellation.
The bureau “treated this as a case for visa forfeiture instead of one [for] visa cancellation,” he said. “As a result, the bureau has yet to decide whether the supposed actions of Fox do indeed justify the cancellation of [her] visa.”
“It would therefore be premature for us at the DOJ to decide that matter now,” he added. “For the reason, we are returning this case to the [bureau] for its proper disposition. Until a final verdict is reached, Sister Fox can still perform her missionary duty in the country.”/PN
