TWO more Americans convicted of sex-related crimes were barred by the Bureau of Immigration from entering the country recently.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Calvin Lee Spencer, 50, and Kevin David Bowens, 61, were turned back by immigration officers on separate occasions at NAIA Terminals 1 and 2, respectively, on October 25 and 28.
Tansingco said Spencer was intercepted after arriving aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles, California.
He said information provided by US authorities showed a Texas court sentenced Spencer to 10 years in prison in 2013 after being found guilty of molesting a 14-year-old female.
Bowens was denied entry when he arrived via a Cebu Pacific flight from Hong Kong.
Bowens was released from prison in 2010 after serving a five-year prison term for raping a 16-year-old girl.
Americans convicted of sex offenses are required to register with authorities in their country and are called registered sex offenders.
Tansingco said the US provides the BI on a regular basis with the names and identities of RSOs who are believed to have entered or are about to enter the Philippines.
The Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 prohibits the entry of foreigners who have been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
Tansingco said Spencer and Bowens have been included in the BI’s blacklist, barring them from returning to the Philippines.
The two were the eighth and ninth Americans convicted of sex offenses barred from entering the country since last August.
A Briton was also barred from entering the country in the same period.
A total of 130 foreign sex offenders have been blocked from entering the country since last January.
Tansingco had expressed concern about the possible resurgence of sex tourism after the reopening of the country’s borders following the easing of travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.