MANILA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines barred 137 foreigners, including 109 Americans, convicted of sex crimes from entering the country in 2024, the Philippines' Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Saturday.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said that aside from being denied entry, the excluded individuals were also placed on the bureau's blacklist of undesirable aliens, permanently banning them from returning to the country.
Of those intercepted, the bureau said 112 were stopped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, 20 were turned away at Mactan-Cebu International Airport in central Philippines, and five at Clark International Airport in Pampanga province, north of Manila.
"Our immigration laws expressly prohibit the entry of foreign nationals convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude, and we remain firm in keeping them out," said Viado. ■
