By Chito A. Chavez
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is investigating the arrest and detention of Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox by the Bureau of Immigration (BI)
The CHR maintained that Fox, 71, was arrested “without basis” as it reminded government authorities of its mandate to protect and promote human rights of all people regardless of gender, nationality, religious beliefs and political leanings in the Philippines.
Fox, a missionary for 27 years here, met with CHR officials yesterday as the commission expressed fears that Fox’s case could set a “dangerous precedent for foreign human rights workers.
A surprised Fox admitted being “shocked” when the President in a speech on Wednesday, a day after her release, admitted having ordered the BI to investigate her “for disorderly conduct.”
Fox felt more fear since “it’s more serious when the President himself really doesn’t want you here.”
As Fox expressed shock, she said that “some information” that might have reached Duterte were not “quite accurate.”
Concerned authorities supposedly alerted the BI of Fox’s alleged partisan political activities.
The alert call was supposedly based on Fox’s participation in a fact-finding mission that scrutinized reports of human rights abuses against farmers, workers, and indigenous peoples in Mindanao.
Fox explained these were part of her missionary work since “human rights and justice were issues the Church has to be involved in.”
