Two convicted American pedophiles who attempted to enter the country over the weekend through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) were denied entry, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that 47-year-old Neil Eugene Graves was intercepted on 18 November, while on the following day, 60-year-old Stuart Chase Dingman was also stopped upon arrival. Both passengers arrived at MCIA on board a Korean Air flight from Incheon, Seoul.

Tansingco added that, due to their convictions for sexual crimes, the two were denied entry as they are registered sex offenders (RSOs).

Philippine immigration laws prohibit the entry of foreign nationals who have previously been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.

According to public records, a circuit court in Kent, Michigan convicted Graves in 2011 on charges of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree, wherein the victim he molested was between 13 and 15 years of age.

Meanwhile, Dingman was convicted multiple times in 1992 and 1996 for assault and battery of a child in Massachusetts.

Both Americans were immediately booked on the following day via a Korean Air flight back to Incheon after they were excluded by the BI officials at the MCIA.