AN American pedophile convicted of sexually molesting a child in the US 13 years ago was barred entry by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Wednesday.
BI chief Norman Tansingco said Francisco Narvios Tecson, 55, was intercepted upon his arrival at the NAIA 1 terminal aboard an Eva Air flight from Taiwan.
Tansingco said that the increase in the number of registered sex offender (RSOs) attempting to enter the country is already becoming a cause for concern.
“During the pandemic, there was an increase of online exploitation of women and children. When international travel resumed, the number of RSOs rose, which could show that the exploitation is being continued,” he said.
Tansingco said Tecson, like all other aliens previously convicted of sex crimes who were turned back at the airport, is a registered sex offender and thus, is an excludable foreign passenger for being convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude as provided in our Philippine immigration act.
Records from the BI said Tecson was convicted in Texas in 2010 for having indecent contact with an eight-year-old female.
Information received from the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) that he planned to travel to the Philippines prompted Tansingco to issue a directive alerting BI officers in all ports of entry on possible arrival.
Upon his arrival, immigration officers at the frontline saw his records, which prompted them to exclude him.
That same evening, another American RSO arrived from Taiwan identified as Dale Lloyd Bayless, 65. Public records show that Bayless was convicted in 1990 of sodomy for an offense in 1989 against a 9-year-old female victim in Neosho, Missouri.
Tecson and Bayless are only two of the more than 150 foreign RSOs who were refused entry at the airports since January.
The bulk of the RSOs were intercepted at the NAIA while a few were excluded at the airports in Mactan, Cebu and Clark, Pampanga.
