Americans top list of sex offenders barred entry

AMERICANS topped the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) list of registered foreign sex offenders (RSOs) who were denied entry into the country in the last two years.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, Port Operations Division (POD) chief Grifton Medina said that of the 341 RSOs who were denied entry in 2017 and 2018, 256 or 75 percent were US citizen.

Records showed that 128 of 156 RSOs who were barred entry in 2018 were Americans.

In 2017, a total of 185 sex offenders were excluded, 128 of them also Americans, Medina said.

“We have been continuously receiving notices from foreign governments about RSOs who were monitored to be traveling to the Philippines and these information are immediately encoded in our database to alert our immigration officers at the ports of entry,” the POD chief added.

The notices are sent by Operation Angel Watch, a global initiative of the US Department of Homeland Security, which targets RSOs traveling abroad who are likely to engage in child sex tourism.

Sex offenders, or those who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, are excluded under the Philippine Immigration Act.

The BI has included the RSOs in the country’s blacklist to prevent any attempts to re-enter the Philippines.

The Immigration bureau was recently awarded a certificate of commendation by the US embassy in Manila for registering the second highest number of excluded American RSOs throughout the world in 2018.

The highest number of intercepted RSOs was reportedly posted by Mexico, which is situated right below the US’ southwestern borders.

“I commend our officers deployed at our ports of entry for a job well done. Because of your vigilance and alertness, you were able to turn away these sex offenders to protect fellow Filipinos from possible exploitation,” Morente said in a statement.