US Methodist bishops call on PHL to free Zimbabwean missionary detained by BI

Bishops from an American Methodist church called for the Philippines on Tuesday to release a missionary from Zimbabwe, detained six weeks ago on suspicion of belonging to a "subversive" group.

Tawanda Chandiwana has been held at an immigration facility in Manila since May 9 following his arrest last month, while attending a seminar in Mindanao.

In February, he had been briefly detained and questioned, along with two other missionaries from the United Methodist Church, when they were stopped at a police checkpoint in Mindanao while participating in a human rights fact-finding mission sponsored by a left-wing group.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) authorities have prevented his colleagues—a man and a woman identified by the Church as Adam Shaw of Brunswick, Ohio, and Miracle Osman of Blantyre, Malawi—from leaving the Philippines, according to a statement issued by the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

"We vigorously protest this treatment of our mission personnel," general secretary Thomas Kemper said in the statement. "It is unconscionable that Tawanda has been held for six weeks."

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval declined to comment, but promised to look into the missionaries' cases.

President Rodrigo Duterte has openly attacked the Catholic Church and other religious groups that have been critical of his government's brutal war on drugs and its human rights record.

Last week, the Department of Justice struck down a deportation order issued by the BI against Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox, who had participated in a political rally. — Reuters