MANILA: Over 150 Vietnamese nationals have been excluded in the country in March for reportedly working in illegal online gambling hubs, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Monday.

Citing the report of the Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES), Commissioner Norman Tangsinco said these Vietnamese nationals were among the 220 aliens of various nationalities denied entry to the country in the same month.

The foreigners were excluded after they were found to be likely to become a public charge in violation of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, he added.

Other nationalities excluded last month were 30 Chinese and 14 Indonesians, among others.

Tansingco noted that their actions are not targeted at specific nationalities, but are rather based on meticulous scrutiny of travel patterns and activities of individuals.

“We leverage available data on past arrests and interceptions to identify individuals exhibiting similar travel behaviors,” he said in a statement.

Some 57 Vietnamese
nationals were among the 875 Filipino and foreign workers rescued by law enforcers during an early morning raid at a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) in Bamban, Tarlac on March 13.

He added that the foreigners are included in the BI’s blacklist, effectively barring any future attempts at entry to the country, as a consequence of their exclusion.

Source: Philippines News Agency