THE Philippines Embassy has hit out at attempts to shift the blame from the Australian Government for the length of time it took to find Vivian Alvarez Solon after she was wrongfully deported from Australia in 2001.
The embassy in Canberra said there was never an official request from either the Australian Government or the Australian Embassy in Manila to find Ms Solon.
She was found on May 11 in a Missionaries of Charity hospice for the ill and dying in the northern Philippines after Australian priest Fr Mike Duffin recognised her photo on satellite television.
He told ABC TV’s Lateline program on May 11, it was a miracle and purely by chance that he saw a story about her on a late night news bulletin.
‘As soon as they said Vivian, I said that’s our Vivian.’
Fr Duffin said he found it hard to believe the Australian Government did not know where Ms Solon was.
The embassy released a statement on May 17 following media reports that the Australian Government had blamed mismanagement by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Manila for the length of time it took to locate Ms Solon.
The embassy said a request was received from the Queensland Police dated September 10, 2003, asking for a Ms Vivian Young to be found.
It was a different name to that used on Ms Solon’s deportation papers.
