MANILA (International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines/Pacific Media Watch): A retired 80-year-old law professor, Gill Boehringer, was detained on arrival at Manila yesterday and told that he would be deported today, allegedly because he participated in rallies against APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation).
“We call on the Duterte government to cancel this deportation order, and also ask Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to take action on this case,” said Peter Murphy for the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
Lawyers in the Philippines were working hard to delay or block this deportation.
Professor Boehringer is a frequent visitor to the Philippines and married to a Filipina who lives in Mindanao.
Because of his age and susceptibility to blood clots, they asked that the deportation at least be delayed.
This was also to allow his wife to reach Manila from Mindanao to see him, and to allow him more rest.
The last APEC leaders meeting in the Philippines was in November 2015 and Professor Boehringer has visited and stayed in the Philippines many times and for long periods since then, without any issues being raised with him.
However, Professor Boehringer’s case is similar to that of Australian religious missionary Sister Patricia Fox, aged 71, who is now appealing against a deportation order first served on her in April this year, again based on “attendance at rallies”.
The Duterte government now has a pattern of taking action against foreigners who witness the harsh repression being imposed by his government.
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