American sex offender intercepted

The Bureau of Immigration reported on Sunday that an American national who had previously been found guilty of sexual offenses in the United States was denied entry into the country by immigration officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

BI commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the American as Thomas Henry Vander Waal, a 39-year-old male who was excluded last 2 November at the NAIA Terminal 1 upon his arrival via a China Eastern Airlines flight from Taipei, Taiwan.

The BI chief said that the American was immediately issued an exclusion order after the officer who processed his arrival saw that his name was on the BI's alert list of registered sex offenders.

He added that the Immigration bureau expressly forbid the entry of aliens who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude because they are undesirable aliens.

According to Interpol's National Central Bureau in Manila, Vander Waal, who hails from Rock Valley, Sioux County, Iowa, has convictions related to sex offenses against minors in the US.

His convictions allegedly involved criminal offenses, including child pornography, sexual abuse and molesting a child under 15 years of age.

Tansingco also said that he had already issued an order directing the inclusion of Americans on the BI's blacklist of unwanted aliens.

"This effectively bans him from re-entering the Philippines so that he won't pose a threat or risk to our women and children," Tansingco said.