BI orders Dutchman to leave Philippines for joining rallies

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has ordered a Dutchman to leave the Philippines for violating a prohibition against joining political activities while in the country.

In a statement on Thursday, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau ordered last November the cancellation of the permanent resident visa of Otto Rudolf De Vries.

It also required De Vries to leave the country and included his name in the bureau's blacklist, thus barring him from reentering the Philippines.

Morente said the bureau had received “reliable information from government intelligence sources” that De Vries was engaged and was actively participating in several protest rallies in the country.

“There are no exemptions,” he said. “Foreign nationals, regardless of their visa type, may not engage in partisan political activities.”

Morente said last year that joining pro- or anti-government mass actions is a right reserved for Filipinos.

The Philippines has previously deported foreign nationals for allegedly violating this rule.

One of them was Patricia Fox, an elderly Australian missionary, who was expelled from the country in 2018 for participating in press conferences and rallies on social justice issues that authorities found to have violated the conditions of her missionary visa. — BM, GMA News