Americans top sex offenders barred from Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 160 foreign sex offenders were barred by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) from entering the Philippines last year, with Americans comprising 80 percent of them.

Grifton Medina, who heads the BI’s port operation division, said the number of registered sex offenders denied entry in 2019 is 10 percent higher than the 145 RSOs intercepted in 2018.

RSOs are foreigners who were convicted of a sex crime and have either finished serving their sentence, are out on parole or on probation in their country, the BI said.

Many of the RSOs are “pedophiles charged and found guilty of raping or sexually molesting minors,” according to the BI.

The bureau’s records show that 128 American RSOs were barred from entering the country last year, followed by 11 Britons, six Australians and four Chinese.

  The BI also denied entry in 2019 to two New Zealanders, a Cameroonian, a Canadian, a German, a Guatemalan, an Irishman, a Korean, a Malaysian, a Russian and a Taiwanese.