CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — A former US Air Force serviceman , convicted of sex charges, was barred from entering the Philippines by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Immigration officers at the Clark International Airport (CRK) intercepted Rusty Conlan Thomas, 33, on July 8, 2024, when he arrived via an Eva Air flight from Taiwan.
Thomas was denied entry after an Immigration officer in Clark, who processed his arrival, saw that the American's name prompted a positive hit in the BI’s derogatory alert system, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.
Immigration officers discovered that Thomas has a record of conviction for a sex offense he committed while serving in the US Air Force, Tansingco added.
Thomas was reportedly tried by a court martial in 2022 and convicted with two counts of possession of child pornography which resulted in his discharge from the service.
Tansingco said the Philippine Immigration Act deems as excludable aliens who have been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
“Our country is off-limits to all foreign sexual predators because it is our duty to protect our women and children from being victimized by these unwanted aliens,” Tansingco said.
The BI chief added that Thomas was placed in the immigration blacklist which perpetually bans him from entering the country for being an undesirable alien.