MANILA: Two Americans who have committed crimes involving moral turpitude have been barred from entering the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Wednesday.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the foreigners as 39-year-old Zachary Tyler Thompson and 46-year-old Paul Neal Coltharp, both of whom were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on different occasions.
Thompson arrived on board a Philippine Airlines from Los Angeles, California on Monday.
He was convicted in 2013 and 2015 for possessing obscene materials depicting a minor in sexual conduct and for annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age.
Coltharp, meanwhile, was intercepted on Dec. 27, 2023 after arriving aboard an Eva Air flight from Taipei.
According to the US government, a California court convicted Coltharp of child molestation in 1998 wherein the victim is a 14-year-old girl.
Tansingco said both were immediately excluded and flown back to their port of origi
n.
They were likewise included in the BI blacklist of undesirable aliens.
He explained that as registered sex offenders, both Thompson and Coltharp are excludable aliens under the immigration act that forbids the entry of aliens convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
Source: Philippines News Agency