Five foreigners who are registered sex offenders (RSOs) have been barred from entering the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Wednesday, March 6.

In a statement, the BI identified the RSOs as New Zealander Richard Neil Smith, 73, and Americans Daniel Lee Downey, 45, Shannon Barlow, 60, Randy Ray Rogers, 64, and John Herbert Timbol.

"All of them were turned back and subsequently boarded on the next flight to their ports of origin," BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.

Tansingco said the five foreigners were also included in the BI's blacklist of undesirable aliens to make sure they are turned away again should they attempt to return to the Philippines.

The BI said Downey, who was intercepted last Feb. 29 upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 from Taiwan, was convicted by a Colifornia court “for engaging in lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age.”

Smith and Barlow arrived separately on March 1 at the NAIA Terminal 3 from Singapore and Japan, respectively. Smith, the BI said, "was reported to have been convicged  of child sex abuse in his country."

In the case of Barlow, the BI said he was “convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree by a Chicago court in 1996” and  was “sentenced to a prison term of more than three years.”

It said that Rogers and Timbol were intercepted separately last March 2 at the NAIA Terminal 3 following their arrival from Istanbul and California, respectively.

“Rogers was convicted in Texas on two counts of aggravated sexual assault wherein the victims are 19 and 24 year-old females. Timbol was said to have been convicted in North Carolina on the charge of sexual offense in the first degree against an unknown victim,” it added.