The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Tuesday that they had barred more than 1,300 foreigners from entering the Philippines in 2021, having deemed that their presence was inimical to the national interest.
In a report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI Port Operations Division Chief Atty. Carlos Capulong said, that a total of 1,320 aliens were refused entry in 2021, which was lower than the over 3,000 foreign nationals who were intercepted in 2020.
Capulong clarified, however, that the decline was expected considering the travel bans imposed the whole year of 2021, which in turn resulted in the lower number of arriving passengers.
Capulong then disclosed that 450 Chinese nationals topped the list of the excluded aliens, followed by 261 Vietnamese, 159 Americans, 33 British, and 24 Israelis.
He said that of the 1,320 aliens, 676 were excluded for not having the means to support their stay in the country, and whose purposes of stay in the country were doubtful, while 501 were deemed as improperly documented. Meanwhile, 69 were excluded for being blacklisted.
Morente then vowed to ensure that the BI will continue to strictly guard the country’s borders against undesirable aliens.
“Despite the woes of the pandemic, our officers in the frontlines shall continue to ensure that only those eligible foreigners are allowed entry in the country,” he said.
Omicron deaths in PH reach 5 – DOH
The death toll from the more infectious COVID-19 Omicron variant in the Philippines increased to three, bringing it to five.
The news was confirmed to the media by the Department of Health, Wednesday. Most of them are senior citizens, unvaccinated and partially vaccinated. Everyone has pre-existing ailments.
“As per verification, we have [five] recorded deaths. [Three] are seniors and all have comorbidities,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“[One is] partially vaccinated, [one] unvaccinated, and the remaining [three] are still for verification.”
The three were found to have died from Omicron after conducting the latest sequencing run, something used to observe the proliferation of various COVID-19 variants of concern in the country.
The DOH has not yet provided details on the whereabouts of the three new deaths from the dreaded variant, which has affected the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 cases after the holiday season.
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