MANILA – Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox has obtained her passport back from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday morning.
Atty. Katherine Panguban, Sister Pat’s lawyer, said it was important that the nun, ordered deported for her supposed political activities in the country, has her passport. She stressed that under the law, the BI has no reason to keep the passport as it is the property of the Australian government.
Panguban said they would study Fox’s passport to see if any changes or alterations were made.
This comes as Fox’s camp appeal her case at the Department of Justice on Friday, arguing that the nun’s missionary visa remained valid and that they will exhaust all legal remedies to ensure that she would not be deported.
On April 25, Fox’s camp received an order downgrading her missionary visa to a temporary tourist visa which is only valid for 30 days. But under the BI’s Omnibus Rules of Procedure, they are allowed to file an appeal 15 days from receipt of the order, preventing it from becoming immediately executory.
