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Zarate: Why deport Sister Pat, but not foreign businesses lobbying to change Constitution?


Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate on Thursday condemned what he called a "double standard" being applied to Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox, whose missionary visa has been cancelled by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

In a statement, Zarate said he finds it "tragically ironic" that Fox, who has helped farmers and indigenous peoples, is being asked by the administration to leave the country, when foreigners and businesses who openly advocate for the protectionist and nationalist provisions of the Constitution, he said, are being welcomed.

"The open lobbying by members of foreign chambers of commerce to change our constitution are in fact political activities that are very detrimental to our country and people, yet, why is the government, the immigration bureau, not doing anything to kick them out?" he said.

Fox was arrested on April 16 after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered her investigated for alleged "disorderly conduct."

She was released the next day. On Wednesday, the BI ordered her to leave the country, after a three-man panel came to a decision to cancel her missionary visa.

Fox's missionary visa was originally set to expire on September 5.

Zarate further backed up his assertion of a double standard with how the government is seemingly treating the Chinese militarization of the West Philippine Sea.

"While the Chinese military is acting as if it owns the West Philippine Sea, the Duterte government is doing nothing to stop its aggressive action, yet, it is very quick to deport someone like Sister Pat who is standing against exploitation and oppression in the country. This is really tragic," he said.

Zarate urged the Duterte administration to stop harassing individuals who serve the Philippines and its citizens.

"It should instead run after those who truly undermine our national patrimony, our independence and national sovereignty," he said. — BM, GMA News

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