The Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) launched a partnership recently aimed at protecting children from foreign sexual predators.

This comes as the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate the CWC’s Makabata Helpline 1383 into the BI’s Project #ShieldKids, an initiative to combat child exploitation and trafficking involving foreign nationals.

“The threat against our children is real and imminent,” BI commissioner Norman Tansingco said. “With the reopening of our borders post-pandemic, we have seen a rise in attempts by sexual predators to enter the country.”

To recall, the BI excluded 171 foreign sex offenders last year, including high-profile arrests of French pedophile Theddy Douglas Tissier in Makati and octogenarian David John Buckley in Cebu.

The agency also opened a Facebook helpline for the public to report suspected child exploitation cases involving foreigners.