Activists have staged a protest outside the Bureau of Immigration office in Manila to condemn the arrest of Australian nun, Sister Patricia Fox.
Sister Fox has since been granted release after spending 22 hours in custody, but she will not be able to leave the country until the Bureau of Immigration's (BI) investigation is finalised.
Dozens of protesters could be seen chanting and holding up signs in support of the 71-year-old on Tuesday.
A friend of Sister Fox told AAP she is being held in a "cage jammed full of people".
Friends of the nun say they're shocked Rodrigo Duterte's government had arrested the "gentle soul" who has lived in the Philippines for more than 27 years.
Sister Fox's lawyer insists she has done nothing illegal and was arrested because the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency complained she was an "undesirable alien" over allegations she had participated in a protest.
But her lawyer maintains she did not take part in any protest and instead was visiting farmers and indigenous people in the area as part of her missionary work.
Activists demand release of Sister Patricia Fox pic.twitter.com/oZ2ioi35oZ — Christian Esguerra (@IanEsguerra) April 17, 2018
“I have known Sister Pat for several years already… she is a human rights and a genuine agrarian reform advocate who tirelessly provided various social service to farmers including the farmers of Hacienda Luisita,” Mr Pahilga, said in a statement.
International Coalition for Human Rights chair Peter Murphy, who has known Sr Fox for years and travelled with her in the Philippines, was shocked by her arrest.
"She's a very gentle soul ... a really quiet and unassuming character," Mr Murphy, speaking in Sydney, told AAP on Tuesday.
Sister Patricia Fox, 71, was detained by the Bureau of Immigration Monday. Source: Facebook/Renato Jr. Reyes
"It's pretty outstanding they have decided to hit her with a sledgehammer."
Sr Fox's detention came a day after Giacomo Filibeck, a Socialist Party official from the European Union who had criticised Mr Duterte's brutal anti-drugs crackdown, was deported.
"Pat is a small fry in comparison," Mr Murphy said.
"She's not a prominent person in terms of public denunciations of the government."
Secretary-General Renato Reyes from left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan ‘New Patriotic Alliance’ (Bayan) said Sister Fox "has long been in the Philippines helping the poorest of the poor."
"She is no criminal or undesirable alien. We condemn her unjust detention and the deportation proceedings initiated against her," Mr Reyes said.
- With AAP .
