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Deporting citizens shows an immigration policy gone mad |
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 by: Fr. Shay Cullen
"She is the beautiful lady that speaks good English", that is how Angelie, a 13
year old child from Preda's center for children in Olongapo described her friend
Vivian Alverez, 46, the long lost mother of two who was improperly deported from
Australia four years ago. Almost a year later she was transferred to the Sisters
Hospice in Olongapo City where the Preda staff and children visited her every
week.
"She is the sad lady that cried when I asked if she has children", said
12-year-old Vangi, "she is the nice lady that reads the bible", said
ten-year-old Beth.
Sally Roacoma, a housemother at the Preda's Children home in Olongapo City
described Vivian as very lonely with no one to talk to.
"She could hardy understand Filipino and had no one to talk to for almost four
years. I pity her and cheered her up by telling her that one-day, she will see
her husband. Then she smiled. We mad jokes and she laughed. She just lay in bed.
The children held her hands which were weak and damaged in the accident that she
suffered in Australia which caused her memory lost and led to her inability to
tell the iron fisted immigration authorities who she was.
Vivian was lonely and isolated in the Spartan open ward of the hospice for poor
and abandoned old women. The religious sisters of mother Theresa, surviving on a
shoestring budget cannot afford a television or magazine. The kind sisters,
Sally and the children were her only companions that brought her consolation and
companionship in a lost and lonely world.
When Sally and the children visited Vivian, she always talks about the accident
and the pains she feels because of the accident. She couldn't remember the
accident itself, but reports said the injuries looked like, she was beaten up by
a mugger.
She became upset when recounting how she was deported before she had properly
healed and recovered from the accident. Despite her pain and discomfort, she was
not believed by the immigration officials and was still brought to the airplane.
She told them that she was to pick up her child at a day care center the day of
the accident. What causes so much pain, she told her friend Sally from Preda, is
the plastic tube that was inserted in her throat. That was in 2001.
She was angry that they had deported her. She told the children and Sally in
Filipino "I have a hostile feeling towards them. I have no respect for them."
When I arrived at the large blue gate of the compound of the missionaries of
charity last Thursday, I found the media camped
outside waiting to have a interview with Vivian.
I went in and found Vivian sitting in a green painted bamboo chair, parked
nearby was her wheel chair. She held my hand as she had held the children during
their visits, a longing for friends and reassurance that this was not a dream.
The promises made by Sally that she would be found and seen by her husband and
children again never to give up hope, would come true, like a miracle it had.
I sat beside her asking her how she felt, I'm ok now she answered with a gentle
smile. Her sister Cecile sat nearby, they had just met after 15 years. They met
as strangers, no hugs or recognition, "faces change after 15 years she says."
Vivian was calm and at peace after Manila based Australian Consul General Frank
Evatt had reassured her everything would be done to help her be reunited with
her family and medical assistance would be shouldered by the Australian
Government. "They got the message" she said later, with a smile.
Father Michael Duffin, the hospice chaplain came over with Frank Evatt. The
consult said all would be done for her, the embassy would pay the medical costs
and social welfare will be provided.
"Could I then live in a nursing home?" She asked, consul replied, "It would be
assessed in the long term to look after you in the future." Vivian then asked,
"Can I see my son?" and the consult replied, "If its an Australian in need its
normal to give assistance. We will help achieve what is best. The role is to get
social services to pay for it in the end, and get back to normal. You will get
what are your wishes." "Thank you, so much", Vivian said.
The consul expressed concern about the media and said, "When I go say what you
want to say even if critical, you are not advised to leave this present place.
The prime minister made a public apology and accepted responsibility.
Australian born Father Michael Duffin said, "Vivian never had hard feelings." He
turned to Vivian, "You should be happy now".
Perhaps he regretted the long years of unhappiness that Vivian had suffered
missing her family and wished that he had pursued enquires into the identity of
the English speaking mystery woman from Australia that he met during his visits
to the hospice as chaplain. When asked a while later by a journalist if she had
hard feeling to the Australian authorities for what they had done to her, said
"I did not see it wrong at that time."
The wrongful deportation of a Filipina who is an Australian citizen is a serious
embarrassment to the Australian government, which has introduced a zero
tolerance policy. Tens of thousands of Filipinos in Australia have condemned the
treatment of Vivian as racist and discriminatory. They have challenged the
mailed fist policy of immigration that have jailed migrants who have valid
visas. Vivian's sister said, "If she was white they would never have her
deported her immediately, there was some kind of racial discrimination". There
is a widespread concern that there may be many similar secret deportations
unknown to the public or even the families and friends of the deportees.
When I asked the children at the Preda Home what they felt now that Vivian is
going home, Beth said it all, "She is going to be with her children, I am so
happy for them, if only we had parents who care for us we could be happy too."
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Posted on Monday, June 13 @ 13:03:42 CDT by don |
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