(File photo)
MANILA – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) expressed alarm over the continued attempts of foreign sex offenders to enter the country.
Commissioner Norman Tansingco, however, assured that they will not lower their guard against these foreigners whose presence in the country poses a serious risk to Filipinos.
“We are always on the lookout for these sex offenders so they won’t be able to come here and victimize our women and children,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
The BI chief added that the agency’s campaign to combat sex tourism is not only focused on Americans, who account for the bulk of registered sex offenders (RSOs) but other nationalities as well.
He issued the statement amid the interception of two sex offenders at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City this week.
The BI’s border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) identified the passengers as 57-year-old Maik Bohr, a German national, and American Lewis Steven Sterling, 67, who arrived on separate flights on Monday.
It said the German arrived aboard a Cebu Pacific flight from the United Arab Emirates. He is now being booked on the next available flight to Dubai following his exclusion.
The foreigner was denied entry based on a directive that BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco issued last month alerting all BI officers in the ports on the German national’s possible arrival in the country.
“Commissioner Tansingco issued the alert order after the bureau received intelligence information tagging Bohr as being involved in child exploitation and abuse materials,” the BI said.
On the other hand, the American arrived in the country on board an Eva Air flight from Taipei.
Public records show that Sterling was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child, in violation of the Texas Penal code in 1998.
Both of them will be included in the Bureau's blacklist, preventing their entry to the country indefinitely. (PNA)
