DOJ grants Sister Patricia Fox’s appeal to get back missionary visa

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has nullified the Bureau of Immigration's (BI) orders forfeiting the missionary visa of Australian missionary Patricia Fox.

On Monday, the last day of the 30-day period the nun was given to leave the country, the DOJ granted Fox's petition for review, which challenged what her lawyers called a baseless visa revocation.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra was quoted in a Monday statement as saying the missionary visa forfeiture was "without legal basis," as the act is not among the powers of the BI.

"Our existing immigration laws outline what the BI can do to foreigners and their papers—including visas—when they commit certain acts within Philippine territory," he said in a resolution, as quoted in the statement.

"What the BI did in this case is beyond what the law provides, that is why it has to be struck down," he said.

However, while visa forfeiture is not among the powers of the BI, visa cancellation is, the statement said.

The resolution by Guevarra, according the statement, ordered the BI to hear the visa cancellation and the deportation cases against the elderly nun. The BI now has to determine whether the charge and the evidence against Fox "make out of a case for visa cancellation."

"The BI treated this as a case for visa forfeiture instead of one for visa cancellation. As a result, the Bureau has yet to decide whether the supposed actions of Fox do indeed justify the cancellation of her visa," Guevarra said.

"It would therefore be premature for us at the DOJ to decide that matter now. For that reason, we are returning this case to the BI for its proper disposition," he added.

A foreigner's visa could be cancelled if it was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation, Guevarra said, likely citing the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.

"The BI adopted a procedure styled as forfeiture that did not address any of these grounds at all," he told reporters in a text message.

Malacañang said it respects the DOJ resolution.

"We respect that resolution by DOJ Secretary Guevarra," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a text message.

Fox, who has been in the Philippines for 27 years, was apprehended by the BI in April and accused of participating in political activities prohibited of foreigners by joining rallies and fact-finding missions, a charge her lawyers deny and contend is part of her religious and pro-peasant advocacy work.

President Rodrigo Duterte himself ordered the 71-year-old nun investigated for "disorderly conduct."

"Until a final resolution of the visa cancellation and/or deportation proceedings is reached, or until the expiration of her missionary visa, whichever comes first, Sister Fox may continue to perform her duties as a missionary in the Philippines," Guevarra said.

Fox herself was relieved by the DOJ decision, but was nevertheless guarded over the separate deportation case against her.

“We will just have to wait and see what happens," the nun told the CBCP News website. "Whether that (DOJ decision on the missionary visa) affects the deportation case, because that is separate from the visa issue.”

Sought for comment, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said she has yet to receive a copy of the resolution, though she has previously said the bureau will submit to any directive from the DOJ. — with a report by Virgil Lopez/BM, GMA News