Monday, February 8, 2010

Aussie Child Sex Offender Blacklisted

Globalnation.inquirer.net: Aussie Child Sex Offender Blacklisted.

Manila, Philippines – Being up front about his criminal history was the undoing of this Australian. Rodney Le Fevre was banned from entering the country by immigration authorities after he admitted that he had been charged with sex offenses in his country.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan ordered Le Fevre placed on the immigration bureau’s black list on Monday after being informed that the Australian had applied for and been denied a visa by the Philippine Embassy in Australia.

Renato Villapando, assistant secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs, asked Libanan to place Le Fevre in the bureau’s “do not admit” list for being an undesirable alien.

Villapando said the Australian recently wrote to the Philippine Embassy in Canberra requesting for an entry visa to the Philippines.
In his handwritten letter, Le Fevre disclosed that he was in detention at a correctional prison in Australia’s Queensland state, awaiting sentencing on charges of indecent acts toward a child and possession of child pornography. In his letter, Le Fevre said he wanted to enter the Philippines after his release from prison, visit his fianceé and explore the possibility of putting up a timber export business here. He asked that the information about visa requirements be sent to his cell at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Prisons in Summer Park, Queensland.

“Apparently, he doesn’t know that despite our vaunted Filipino hospitality, foreigners who have criminal record are not welcome in our country,” said Floro Balato Jr., the bureau’s spokesman. Balato pointed out that the Immigration Act specifically provided for the exclusion or deportation of foreigners who have been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude. “No immigration agency in any country in the world will issue a visa to a foreigner accused of committing immoral acts, especially against children,” he said.