At least 187 foreign sex offenders or registered sex offenders convicted of sex crimes in their home countries were barred from entering the Philippines last year, the Bureau of Immigration said.
Immigration port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas said that the number of RSOs denied entry in 2017 were higher than the 144 sex felons intercepted in the different airports in 2016.
RSOs refer to convicted sex offenders who have finished serving their sentences or have been released on probation or parole.
In the United States and most Western countries, the government maintains a sex offender registry that allows authorities to keep track of the activities and movement of sex offenders.
The RSOs intercepted at the airports are immediately turned away as their names and derogatory records would immediately register a hit in the computer screens the moment their passports are swiped by immigration officers in their scanners.