The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Friday that it stopped seven Americans with records of convictions as sex offenders in their home country from entering the Philippines in January.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said six were stopped and immediately excluded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), while one was intercepted at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

Attorney Viado explained that they were denied entry by immigration officers upon the discovery that they are among the thousands of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) listed in their database.

He added that those aliens were excluded pursuant to a provision in the Immigration Act that prohibits the entry of foreigners who have been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand Tendenilla, chief of the BI Border Control and Intelligence Unit, confirmed that all seven American RSOs were sent back to their port of origin a day after they were intercepted.

Last 6 January, the Bureau intercepted 30-year-old Rodrigo Navarro, who was convicted in 2014 for possession and control of obscene materials depicting a minor in sexual conduct.

Wayne Mitchell Blakely, a 56-year-old, was denied entry on 14 January. Blakely was convicted in the US in 2002 for sexual molestation, wherein the victim was only 15 years old.

The Bureau also excluded 33-year-old Raymund Campado Falguera on 14 January after it turned out that a court martial convicted him in 2014 for sexually abusing a minor.

On 15 January, Robert William Harper, a 69-year-old American, was also denied entry due to his conviction for criminal sexual conduct in Wisconsin in 1999.

At the MCIA on 18 January, the Bureau intercepted 60-year-old American David Scott Dennis, who was convicted in 2000 for five counts of child molestation in the first degree, where the victim was only 6 years old.

On the same date at the NAIA, Joseph Jerome Dumas, a 71-year-old, was turned away after the BI was informed that he was convicted in 2018 of possessing sexually abusive material involving children.

The BI stressed that the exclusions are part of its ShieldKids Program, which aims to protect Filipino women and children from exploitation and abuse by overseas predators.