IMMIGRATION officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport barred an American tagged as a registered sex offender in the United States from entering the country recently.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Gabriel Rodriguez, 34, tried to enter the country last September 2 on board an All Nippon Airways flight from Haneda, Japan but was intercepted by immigration officers.
Tansingco said Rodriguez was barred under Section 29 (a) of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 which states that “persons convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall be barred from entering the Philippines.”
He said the BI was informed by their US counterparts that Rodriguez was convicted in 2019 for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
“Registered sex offenders pose a threat to our people. Those who preyed on children have no place in the Philippines,” the BI chief said.
