The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has barred from entering the country since last week three Americans who were previously convicted of sex crimes in the US.
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said two of the passengers were turned away at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) while the other one was intercepted at the airport in Mactan, Cebu.
James Nicholas Ibach, 36, was the first to be turned back last August 1 when he arrived at the Mactan airport aboard a flight from Taipei.
Ibach was convicted in 2019 for possession and control of obscene photographs depicting a minor in sexual conduct.
On August 2, a 78-year-old passenger named Eusebio Garcia Gallegos was denied entry at the NAIA terminal 3 moments after he arrived via a flight from Guam.
Gallegos was reportedly convicted by a Texas court in 2003 for engaging in indecent acts and contact with a child.
Clifton Lee Vaughan, 59, was intercepted on August 5 at the NAIA Terminal 1 where he arrived aboard an Eva Air flight from Taipei.
Vaughan was convicted by a Missouri court in 1983 of sexual abuse in the first degree for committing sodomy against a 10-year-old girl.
As a consequence of their exclusion, all three passengers were placed in the immigration blacklist and banned from entering the country.
"The Philippines is off limits to these foreign sex predators,” Tansingco said.
He explained that alien sex offenders are subject to outright exclusion under the Philippine immigration act as they were convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
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