To avoid getting deported to her home country, this Filipina had to beg Peter Dutton, Minister for Home Affairs, to allow her to stay in Australia so she can be with her son, who can’t go with her.
Bernadette Romulo along with her daughters, half-sisters of Giro, will soon find out if she will be deported to Australia after staying in the country for 11 years.
Giro, 8-years-old, cannot leave the country because of partial custody arrangements by his father who is a Filipino-Australian.
Romulo since started a social media campaign to desperately ask for help in the online petition site, charge.org. The petition currently has more than 22,000 signatures supporting Romulo.
Romulo also asked Dutton, through a video, to give her the chance to be with her son.
“The family court said Giro must live with me. But the Department of Immigration is deporting me. Should I cut myself in half? Dutton says in a video.
“I don’t know what to do. But I’m not going to just give up. Because it’s cruel, very cruel. He’s only eight,” she added.
However, Dutton denied that he is handling the case of Romulo. Instead, he pointed out the Assistant Home Affairs Minister, Alex Hawke, as the one to talk to.
According to Romulo, Giro seldom cries to sleep at night by the thought that his mother will be leaving him.
The 8-year-old son of Bernadette Romulo, who is facing deportation after living in Australia for 11 years
“During the day he’s OK. At night he cries a lot, but he tries to hide it. He’s just trying to be brave for me,” says Romulo.
She fought for permanent residency in Australia but her effort went into vain.
Romulo might be deported together with her daughter, ages 12 and 13, from her previous marriage that became a failure when she went to Australia in 2006.
Giro already wrote a Mother’s day card fearing that they won’t be together on that day.
“Dear Mummy. You have a heart better than a universe and love from Pluto to Venus. You are smarter than Einstein and greatly loveable. You are more important to me than anything else,” the letter says.
