Unrecognized and now threatened

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WHAT we have feared has now come to the surface. We feared that the Duterte government will be vindictive. We feared that the Duterte government is so onion-skinned that it will not take dissent. We feared that the Duterte government will use government institutions to crack down on its victims. All of these fears have been confirmed by the downgrading of the missionary visa of 71-year old Australian Catholic missionary Sr. Patricia Fox.

The government is now using the Bureau of Immigration against Sr. Fox. The accusation against her is that she is engaged in activities which are “political in nature.” Of course they arbitrarily define what is “political in nature” is. Specifically they are:

She joined in the fact finding mission on land distribution in Hacienda Luisita. Is a fact finding mission to seek whether justice has been done and the law has been fulfilled “political in nature”?  Sorry to say to those ignorant of the Catholic faith; work for justice is part and parcel of our Christian commitment. The same would be true of the fact finding mission whether Martial Law in Mindanao is serving its purported purpose and not just a tool to abuse the rights of the people.

2.    She was part of a solidarity fast to free political prisoners. Has any harm been done to anyone by one undergoing voluntary fasting? Is solidarity with the oppressed “political in nature”? Yes, probably, if the government admits that it is oppressive to those who hold deviant ideas from its own. Then the fasting would hurt them. She is also accused of joining a solidarity program with political prisoners at the Davao del Norte Provincial Jail. This is in the same category of calling to set prisoners free – the very mission to which Christ has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. [ cf Lk 4:18-21]

3.     She joined the rally of the Coca Cola workers who are calling the giant Coca Cola company to implement the decision of the Department of Labor to regularize more than six hundred workers. She told the workers that the Social Teachings of the Church says that there is a right to unionize, that workers have a right to just wages and they have right to security of tenure. Is teaching the social teachings of the Church not part of missionary work? In fact even our present Constitution states that workers have a right to a living wage and to security of tenure. It is our present government who is wrong in not following the mandate of the Constitution.

4.     She joined a press conference on “Trump and Duterte, Hands off Human Rights Defenders.” This was in support of Jerome Aba who was detained in San Francisco Airport, shamed and psychologically tortured and made to sign a statement that he was a terrorist before he was deported back to the country. Is solidarity to victims of human rights abuses and expression of indignation wrong? Is this not an inviolable right of every human being, no matter what his/ faith race, creed and nationality may be?

S    Pat fox has been working in our country for the past 27 years helping farmers, indigenous peoples, the urban poor and the workers. She was engaged in helping the farmers improve their livelihood by organic farming. She has educated people on their rights and duties as Christians and as citizens. She has helped in rehabilitating  the poor when disasters came. In short she has been doing a lot of good work. For these there is no recognition at all on the part of the government, and now she is threatened to be deported for the incoherent allegations that her work is “political in nature”

      The Church cannot remain silent in this situation. Her right to preach the gospel of justice, peace, love and truth is being impinged. We stand up together with Sr. Pat.