An Australian nun who battled a government bid to expel her from the Philippines after she angered President Rodrigo Duterte, said Wednesday she will leave rather than face certain arrest and deportation.
Sister Patricia Fox's abrupt announcement came because immigration authorities refused hours earlier to extend her tourist visa and ordered the 71-year-old out by Saturday.
Fox, who has spent nearly three decades advocating for the Philippines' poorest, has become a symbol of understated resistance during her seven-month administrative fight to stay.
But with her legal options all but exhausted, the soft-spoken nun decided to return to Australia rather than take the risk of being removed forcibly.
"I've been given an ultimatum that if I don't leave by 3 November, they will send people to chase me," she told AFP. "There is no point being arrested and deported and I don't have any choice." Her supporters condemned the denial and pledged to keep up their legal battle to allow her to return.
"We will not allow the government to forcibly expel Sr. Fox," the National Union of People's Lawyers said in a statement. "Our fight is not yet over."