3,044 foreigners barred from PH in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) barred from entering the country more than 3,000 foreigners last year. But Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the 3,044 aliens who were refused entry in 2020 was lower than the more than 7,700 foreigners turned away in 2019. “As expected, there were fewer aliens excluded last year considering that passenger arrivals during that period dropped by a whopping 74 percent, mainly due to international travel restrictions imposed after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak,” Morente said. He noted that the bureau turned away large numbers of aliens from January to March 2020, or before the government enforced a lockdown, which led to suspension of many international flights and closure of the country’s borders to foreign travelers. Koreans topped the list of barred aliens with 1,350, followed by 532 Chinese, 333 Vietnamese, 247 Americans, 181 Indonesians, and 180 Malaysians. It added that 53 percent of the passengers were turned back for being likely to become public charge. —Tina G. Santos