Photo credit: BI

The Bureau of Immigration’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) has arrested a 67-year-old American man identified as a registered sex offender in his home country.

FSU operatives, led by Chief Rendel Ryan Sy, reported that the suspect, James Russel Munson, was apprehended on Wednesday along Roxas Boulevard in Ermita, Manila. His arrest came after a tip-off from the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime and U.S. authorities, who confirmed his record as a child sex offender previously convicted for violating a minor in the first degree.

The move is part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to safeguard vulnerable sectors, particularly children, from foreign predators. Under Philippine immigration law, foreign nationals previously convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude, including registered sex offenders, are barred from entering or remaining in the country.

Munson’s arrest falls under the Bureau’s Project #Shieldkids, an intensified campaign aimed at protecting children and communities from sexual predators and other foreign nationals considered a threat to public safety.

The BI confirmed that Munson is now under their custody and will undergo deportation proceedings, after which he will be permanently blacklisted from the Philippines.