187 sex offenders barred from entering PH in 2017

FILE: Jaime Morente (PNA Photo)

MANILA — A total of 187 registered sex offenders (RSOs) or foreigners convicted of sex crimes in their home countries were barred from entering the country last year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Wednesday.

In his report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas reported that the number of RSOs denied entry in 2017 were higher than the 144 sex felons intercepted in the different airports the previous year.

Americans topped the list with 153, followed by 19 Australians and 10 British nationals.

Based on the report, there is an average of 10 to 15 RSOs being turned back at the airports every month.

He added that 90 percent of intercepted foreigners attempted to enter the NAIA while the rest were stopped at the airports in Mactan, Cebu and Clark, Pampanga.

With this, Morente attributed the successful apprehension of these foreign nationals to the continued cooperation by their counterparts abroad, including the Interpol and police attaches of the various foreign missions in Manila.

“These aliens pose a serious and real threat to our Filipino women and children, anyone of whom could be their next victim if they manage to enter our country undetected,” the BI chief said in a statement.

RSOs refer to convicted sex offenders who have finished serving their sentences or have been released on probation or parole.

In the United States and most Western countries, the government maintains a sex offender registry that allows authorities to keep track of the activities and movement of sex offenders.

Those intercepted at the airports are immediately turned away as their names and derogatory records will immediately register a hit in the computer screens the moment their passports are swiped by immigration officers in their scanners.

 (PNA)