IMMIGRATION officers barred an American sex offender from entering the country during the New Year’s Day rush.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Zachary Tyler Thompson 39, was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after arriving on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles, California.
Tansingco said Thompson was convicted in 2013 and 2015 for possessing obscene materials depicting a minor in sexual conduct and for molesting a child aged under 18.
Before that, immigration officers also barred Paul Neal Coltharp, 46, from entering the country.
Tansingco said Coltharp was intercepted last December 27 after he arrived aboard an Eva Air flight from Taipei, Taiwan.
He said a California court convicted Coltharp of child molestation in 1998 wherein the victim was a 14-year-old girl.
Both were flown back to their ports of origin.
Tansingco said their names have been included in the BI blacklist of undesirable aliens.
The BI chief explained that as registered sex offenders, both Thompson and Coltharp are “excludable aliens under the immigration act which forbids the entry of aliens convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.”
Last year, the BI barred entry to some 150 foreign sex offenders.
