The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that its officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) had refused the entry of five international pedophiles into the country last week.

According to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, all five of the passengers—four Americans and one New Zealander—are registered sex offenders (RSOs), and they were all stopped at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from 29 February and 2 March.

Interviewed on 29 February at NAIA Terminal 1 was Daniel Lee Downey, 45, who arrived aboard a China Airlines flight from Taipei.

Downey was convicted by a California court for engaging in lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age.

On 1 March, BI officers at NAIA Terminal 3 turned back New Zealander Richard Neil Smith, 73, who arrived via a Scoot Airways flight from Singapore and was reported to be a convicted child sex offender in his country.

Also, last Friday, American RSO Shannon Barlow, 60, was intercepted at NAIA Terminal 3 after he arrived aboard an Air Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo.

Barlow was convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree by a Chicago court in 1996 and sentenced to a prison term of more than three years.

On 2 March, Saturday, American Randy Ray Rogers, 64, was excluded at NAIA Terminal 3 after arriving via a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul.

Rogers was convicted in Texas on two counts of aggravated sexual assault, where the victims were 19- and 24-year-old females.

That same day, American John Herbert Timbol was intercepted at NAIA Terminal 3 when he arrived via a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles, California.

Timbol was said to have been convicted in North Carolina on the charge of sexual offense in the first degree against an unknown victim.

Tansingco said that all five foreign nationals were immediately excluded, subsequently boarded on the next available flight back to their port of origin, and placed their names on the BI blacklist of undesirable aliens to make sure that they were banned from re-entering the country. 

The BI chief added that RSOs pertain to foreigners who have been previously convicted of sex offenses and whose entry into the Philippines is prohibited under the country’s immigration act as the crimes they committed involve moral turpitude.