Immigration officers have intercepted four Americans and a Briton who were barred from entering the country for being sex offenders.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco said four of the pedophiles were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) while the other one was turned away at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Tansingco bared that the passengers are all registered sex offenders (RSO) as they have records of conviction for sex offenses in their homeland.
“They were already included in our blacklist, thus they are perpetually barred from entering the Philippines. They were denied entry as their presence here could pose a serious risk to our women and children.”
He reiterated that the Philippine immigration act provides for the outright exclusion of aliens convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude, and added that they have launched their Project #Shieldkids Campaign to aggressively locate, arrest, and deport foreign sex offenders that might be in the country.
Intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 1 was Alexander Balay, 33, who arrived aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Tokyo. He was convicted of possession and intent to distribute child pornography by a court in Alabama.
Vincent John Cherer, a British national, was also turned away at the NAIA terminal 1 after arriving via an Air China flight from Chengdu, China. He was previously convicted of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom.
American Wallance Lynn Wendel, 71, was also excluded at the same terminal, where he arrived via a Korean Air flight from Incheon. He was convicted of sexual assault by a court in Arizona. Apart from this, he was also convicted of homicide and burglary.
Also denied entry was American Kevin Edwin Daughtrey, 49, who was turned away at the MCIA after he arrived aboard an Eva Air flight from Taipei. He was convicted by a court in Florida of sexual offense against a minor.
Meanwhile, American Billy Ray Robertson Jr. was intercepted also at the NAIA 1 terminal. He was convicted by a court in Nevada in 1989 for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
