The Department of Justice may take another month to resolve the deportation case of Australian nun Patricia Fox.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said he has directed both Fox and the Bureau of Immigration to file their respective memoranda to the missionary’s appeal against the deportation order issued against her by the BI in July.
“After that period lapses, the DOJ will resolve Sister Fox’s appeal, with or without the memoranda,” Guevarra said in a text message.
The BI has already denied Fox’s petition for the extension of her missionary visa and instead downgraded it to a 59-day temporary visitor’s visa from the expiration of her original visa last Sept. 5. This means she can only stay in the country until Saturday, Nov. 3.
The immigration bureau, which is under the administrative supervision of the DOJ, may extend or renew the visa until the department decides on her deportation case.
Guevarra said Fox may be allowed to stay until the DOJ rules on her appeal on the deportation order.
He said the issue could even reach the courts should Fox opt to file a petition after all administrative remedies before the executive branch are exhausted.
“Any adverse ruling of the DOJ [on the deportation order] may be submitted for judicial review,” he added.
The Immigration Board of Commissioners ordered the deportation of the missionary nun and also her inclusion in the bureau’s blacklist to prevent her from returning to the country.
The bureau cited as basis for its order several photographs showing that Fox engaged in several partisan political activities sometime in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018—including those where she reportedly demanded for the release of political prisoners, joined rallies for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita, and a labor rally in Davao City.
The BI also considered President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier statement branding Fox as an undesirable alien.