Philippines 2nd country with most sex offenders barred

MANILA, Philippines — The US government has lauded the Philippines for refusing entry to registered American sex offenders last year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced yesterday.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the US embassy commended the bureau for registering the second highest number of intercepted sex offenders in 2018, next to Mexico.

The US embassy cited the BI’s port operations division, airport operations section, travel control and enforcement unit as well as the border control and enforcement unit for successfully implementing Operation “Angel Watch.”

Angel Watch is a global initiative of the US Department of Homeland Security to monitor the movement of foreign sex offenders.

Port operations division head Grifton Medina said 156 foreign sex offenders were barred from entering the country last year. Of the number, 128 were Americans.

In 2017, the BI intercepted 185 foreign sex offenders, including 128 Americans.

“We have been receiving notices from foreign governments about sex offenders monitored to be traveling to the Philippines and these information are immediately encoded in our database to alert immigration officers at the ports of entry,” Medina said.

Sex offenders are those who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.

The BI said foreign sex offenders were included in the country’s blacklist to prevent them from reentering the country.