The United States-based United Methodist Church yesterday called on the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration (BI) to release one of its missionaries who is allegedly in the BI’s custody.
The church’s Council of Bishops identified the missionary as Tawanda Chandiwana of Zimbabwe, who worked for two years at Initiatives for Peace Mindanao (InPeace), a human rights organization.
At the same time, the church’s other missionaries, Miracle Osman Nkhata of Malawi and Adam Shaw of the U.S., are unable to leave the country due to various issues with the BI.
According to a petition that the church posted on its website, Chandiwana was detained by the BI last month for overstaying his visa although he had already started applying for an extension under a tourist visa. The church said he “was found to be on a ‘watchlist’ of suspected subversives. He denies any wrongdoing.”
In a report by GMA News, it said that Chandiwana was arrested while participating in a mission allegedly organized by a leftist group. He’s now at the Bicutan Detention Center, where he has been reportedly detained for six weeks.
Meanwhile, Nkhata, who was involved in serving the indigenous peoples of Mindanao, was unable to leave the Philippines after her passport was “confiscated while she attempted to renew her missionary visa,” the church said.
Shaw, who was assigned in Davao, is stuck in the country after failing to get the government’s approval to depart for the US.
The church has started an online petition calling for the government to let the three missionaries depart from the country. The petition now has more than 2,700 signatures.
The news about the three missionaries comes at the heels of the case of Catholic nun Patricia Fox, who was almost deported from the country after being accused by President Rodrigo Duterte for allegedly engaging in political activities, which violates the terms of her visa.
Fox, however, is still in the Philippines after the country’s department of justice voided the decision of the BI a few weeks ago. However, the government said that the deportation proceedings against her will continue.
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