Hasty, baseless and unjust

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines denounces the decision of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to forfeit the missionary visa of our former national coordinator, Sister Patricia Fox, NDS.

Sister Pat has been here in our country for 27 years doing missionary work with the rural poor. She has seen the miserable conditions of Filipino farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people. Called by her faith, Sister Pat supported the plight of the rural poor for genuine agrarian reform.

The decision of the BI is hasty, baseless and unjust. As a rural missionary, Sister Pat is merely extending her solidarity with the Filipino rural poor and fulfilling servant leadership through collective witnessing and prophetic action.

Under the Duterte administration, rural sectors, activists, and agrarian reform advocates have come under increasing attack. This is part of the administration’s effort to terrorize and silence those who are speaking up against the worsening state of human rights in the country and to suppress the growing dissent of the Filipino people amid antipeople policies of the government.

We rebuke this attack against Sister Pat and against her Christian missionary commitment. We enjoin the Church people and other sectors to stand with Sister Pat in her plight against this injustice.

SISTER ELENITA BELARDO, RGS, national coordinator, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines,
[email protected]