TWO foreigners were barred from entering the country due to their record as convicted rapists.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the two sex offenders as Irishman Charles Henry Gabler, 52 and American Mark Halligan, 29, who were both intercepted at the NAIA terminal 3.
Tansingco warned other convicted foreign sex offenders to avoid traveling to the Philippines as they will be turned away the moment they step on Philippine soil.
“Our country is off-limits to all foreign sex predators and it is our duty as immigration authorities to see to it that they are prevented from entering our borders to protect our women and children,” he stressed.
He said that Gabler was turned back last June 23 when he arrived via a United Airlines flight from Guam, while Halligan was excluded on July 4 upon arriving aboard an Emirates flight from Dubai.
Records showed that it was Gabler’s second time to be turned away at the airport as he was already previously excluded when he first attempted to come here on Nov. 22, 2022. Fabler was convicted in 2012 for raping a 16-year-old girl.
As for Halligan, the US records bared that he was convicted for the crime of rape in 2020 against a 20-year-old woman.
Tansingco said both foreigners were placed in the BI blacklist and perpetually barred from entering the Philippines for being undesirable aliens.
“They were denied entry pursuant to a provision in our immigration law which prohibits the entry of foreigners convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude,” the BI chief added.
