PHL 003 / 0518 / OBS 056.1
Obstacles to freedoms of
movement
and expression
Philippines
July 20, 2018
The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, has received new information and requests your
urgent intervention in the following situation in the Philippines.
New information:

The
Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the imminent
deportation of Sister Patricia
Fox, an Australian nun who has lived in the
Philippines for almost 30 years, and is known as an advocate for agricultural
workers, indigenous peoples, urban poor, and peasants’ rights[1].
According to the information
received, on July 19, 2018, Sister Patricia Fox and her legal team received the Bureau
of Immigration (BI)'s order for her deportation. The BI 10-page resolution also
said that her name was included in the
BI blacklist, which will bar her from returning to the Philippines. Sister Fox
will appeal against the order.
The BI ruled that Sister Fox violated the conditions of her
missionary visa because she joined activites deemed to be political, including
an international fact-finding mission in Mindanao, which aimed to document
human rights violations done against farmers and peasant communities. Last
April 2018, the BI investigated and arbitrarily arrested Sister Fox on the
basis of an order released during the Aquino administration, which prohibited
foreign nationals from participating in activities deemed political. The BI’s July
19 order came a month after the Department of Justice nullified a previous
order to revoke Sister Fox's missionary visa (see background information).
In its resolution, the BI noted that Sister Fox was
granted a missionary visa on July 21, 2016, valid until September 5, 2018,
"with a limitation that she will render her missionary work in Barangay
Amihan, Quezon City". However, the BI accused Sister Fox of having engaged
in political deemed activities outside of her community, “from north (Tarlac) to south (South Cotabato)
of the Philippines”. The BI also said that Sister Fox had violated the
limitations and conditions of her missionary visa, which allowed her to engage
in missionary/religious work, not political activities, in the Philippines. The
order further stated Sister Fox’s presence in the country posed “a risk to public
interest".
The Observatory strongly
condemns the deportation order against Sister Fox, which is an attempt by the
Philippine Government to prevent her from continuing her work as a human rights
defender, and particularly aims at punishing her for her defence of the rights
of peasants, indigenous peoples, and the urban poor in the country.
The Observatory urges the
Government of the Philippines to rescind the deportation order against Sister Fox
and allow her to continue
working to support local communities in the country.
Background information
On April 16, 2018, at around 2:30 pm, six uniformed intelligence officers from
the BI visited Sister Patricia Fox’s missionary home in Project 3, Quezon
City, Metro Manila. The officers then
“invited” her to the BI for a random check and verification of her immigration papers
and status. The officers showed Sister
Fox an
order” but did not provide her with a copy of the document.
After arriving at the BI office in Manila at around
4:00 pm, the officers provided a Miranda warning to Sister Fox and told her she was under arrest for “illegal
political activities”. They also told her that she was an “undesirable alien”,
and that she would be detained overnight and deported the following day. No
documents indicating the charges were provided to her. She was released in the
afternoon the following day and given 10 days to respond with a counter-affidavit.
On April 18, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte announced
that he had personally ordered Sister Fox be investigated for alleged
“disorderly conduct”. It is believed that Sister Fox’s arrest was a result of
her participation in rallies
demanding the release of political prisoners and urging Philippine authorities
to respect human rights. On April 6-9,
2018, she also visited detained farmers
in Tagum City, Davao del Norte Province, and workers on strike as part of an
International Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission (IFFSM) conducted by human
rights and farmers’ organizations in Mindanao. The purpose of the IFFSM was to investigate human rights violations
under Martial Law.
On April 25, 2018, the BI issued an order based on Section 9 of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940,
forfeiting Sister Fox’s missionary visa and downgrading it to a temporary visa,
as a result of having “engaged in activities that are not allowed under the
terms and conditions of her visa”.
On May 23, 2018, the BI denied Sister Fox’s motion for
reconsideration on the order revoking her missionary visa. Sister Fox
subsequently appeled the decision before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
On June 18, 2018, in response to the petition for review of the BI’s orders filed by
Sister Fox, the DOJ nullified the two BI's orders
forfeiting the missionary visa of Sister Fox, saying that the orders had been
issued without legal basis. The DOJ then returned the case to the BI to determine
whether the charge and the evidence against Sister Fox actually constitututed
sufficient grounds for visa cancellation.
Please
write to the authorities in the Philippines, urging them to:
i. Allow Sister Patricia Fox to stay in the
Philippines and continue to carry out her human rights activities;
ii. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and
psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in the Philippines;
iii. Put an end to all forms of harassment
against Sister Patricia Fox, as well as all human rights defenders in the
Philippines, and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out
their legitimate activities without any hindrance and fear of reprisals;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration
on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United
Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Articles 1 and 12.2;
v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights
standards and international instruments ratified by the Philippines.
Addresses:
·
H.E. Rodrigo Duterte,
President of the Republic of the Philippines, Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968,
E-mail: op@president.gov.ph or send message through
http://president.gov.ph/contact-us/
·
Mr. Alan Peter Cayetano,
Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Email: osec@dfa.gov.ph, Twitter: @alanpcayetano
·
Hon. Menardo Guevarra,
Secretary, Department of Justice of the Philippines, Fax: (+632) 521-1614,
Email: communications@doj.gov.ph
·
Hon. Jose Luis Martin Gascon,
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, Fax: (+632) 929
0102, Email: chairgascon.chr@gmail.com
·
Mr. Jaime Morente, Commissioner, Bureau of Immigration,
Philippines, Fax: (+632) 309-7752,mail: binoc_immigration@hotmail.com, xinfo@immigration.gov.ph,
immigPH@gmail.com, Twitter:
@immigrationPH
·
H.E. Mr. Evan P. Garcia,
Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations Office
in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 716 19 32 Email: mission@genevapm.ph
·
Embassy of the Philippines in
Brussels, Belgium, Fax: (+32) 02 345 64 25, E-mail: brusselspe@gmail.com
Please
also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the Philippines located in
your country.
***
Geneva-Paris, July 20, 2018
Kindly inform us of any action
undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programme is to prevent
or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. OMCT and FIDH
are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism
implemented by international civil society.
[1] Sister Patrica, 71, is an Australian citizen who has held a missionary
visa for the Philippines since the 1990s and has been conducting community
service as part of her missionary work in the country. An advocate of genuine
agrarian reform and human rights, Sr. Patricia has joined the activities of the
Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and Pagkakaisa para sa Tunay na
Repormang Agraryo (PATRIA), including recent international fact-finding and
solidarity missions in Mindanao that probed the impact of the declaration of
martial law by the Duterte administration and its counterinsurgency programme,
Oplan Kapayapaan, on poor peasants on the island. Sisterr Patricia is also a staunch
advocate of the rights of agricultural workers, including the farmworkers in
Hacienda Luisita; the rights of indigenous peoples; and the rights of the urban
poor.
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