THREE American pedophiles previously convicted of sex crimes in the US were barred by Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel from entering the country.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said two of the passengers were turned away at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) while the other one was intercepted at the airport in Mactan, Cebu.
He said alien sex offenders are subject to outright exclusion under the Philippine immigration act as they were convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
James Nicholas Ibach, 36, was the first to turned back last Aug. 1 when he arrived at the Mactan airport aboard a Starlux Airlines flight from Taipei. Ibach was convicted in 2019 for possession and control of obscene photographs depicting a minor in sexual conduct.
Then on Aug. 2, a 78-year-old passenger named Eusebio Garcia Gallegos was denied entry at the NAIA terminal 3 moments after he arrived via a United Airlines flight from Guam.
Gallegos was reportedly convicted by a Texas court in 2003 for engaging in indecent acts and contact with a child.
Clifton Lee Vaughan, 59, was intercepted on Aug. 5 at the NAIA Terminal 1 where he arrived aboard an Eva Air flight from Taipei.
Vaughan was convicted by a Missouri court in 1983 of sexual abuse in the first degree for committing sodomy against a 10-year-old girl.
As a consequence of their exclusion, all three passengers were placed in the immigration blacklist and banned from entering the country.
“They were all boarded on the next available flight to their port of origin. The Philippines is off limits to these foreign sex predators,” Tansingco said.
