International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines
Media Release
August 8, 2018
Australian law professor to be deported from Philippines today
Retired law professor Gill Boehringer was detained on arrival at Manila yesterday and told that he would be deported at
8.30amtoday (10.30am AEST), 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.
Lawyers in the Philippines are working hard to delay or block this deportation. Prof Boehringer is over 80 years old, 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 is 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 Prof Boehringer has visited and stayed in the
Philippines many times and for long periods since then, without any issues being raised with him.
However, Prof 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.