Philippine president tells soldiers he had Sister Patricia Fox, 71, detained after she insulted him

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has said that he personally ordered the detention of an Australian Catholic nun, warning that any foreign critics of his government face deportation.



Sister Patricia Fox, 71, a longtime resident of the Philippines, was detained by the immigration bureau on Monday on suspicion of engaging in political activities. She was released without charges the next day.

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“It was not the military who arrested the nun,” Duterte said in a speech to soldiers on Wednesday. “It was upon my orders. I ordered her to be investigated … for disorderly conduct.”

Duterte has previously launched into scathing attacks on critics of his deadly drug war, in which thousands of people have died.

The international criminal court’s chief prosecutor launched a preliminary investigation in February into allegations of extrajudicial killings. This prompted Duterte to withdraw from the ICC and threaten to arrest the chief prosecutor if she came to the Philippines.

“You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty,” Duterte said, apparently referring to Fox.

He said he had the power to deport people and planned to instruct authorities: “Don’t let her in because that nun has a shameless mouth.”

Australian nun released after arrest in Philippines for 'illegal political activities' Read more

Fox, a missionary of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, joined an international fact-finding mission in the southern Philippines this month to look into reported violations of the rights of farmers and indigenous people, according to her lawyer.

In an interview with Manila’s ABS-CBN network after her release, she insisted: “I haven’t been engaged [in] party politics.”

Duterte told his political opponents not to invite critics to the country and warned that foreigners who “malign and defame” the government would be arrested.

On Sunday Manila deported an Italian, Giacomo Filibeck, the deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned “extra-judicial killings” in Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown.