Manila: An American who evaded rape charges in the United States by staying in the Philippines for more than 10 years will be deported soon, an immigration official has said.
Phillip Vaughn Cox, 53, is awaiting deportation while being detained at a facility of the Bureau of Immigration in Bicutan, suburban Taguig, following his arrest at a resort in northern Luzon on February 13, Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison said.
Cox initially tried to evade arrest by claiming his first name was Patrick, not Philip, but his identity was eventually confirmed when confronted with a copy of his driver’s licence, said Mison.
“He is an undesirable alien,” said Mison, adding that Cox is wanted on two counts of raping a minor in the US in 2001, when he was 40.
Mison refused to answer when asked if Cox has been hiding in the Philippines for the past 13 years.
The Philippine government will strengthen drive against fugitives who enter the Philippines on tourist visas, said Mison.
He did not give the number of foreign fugitives hiding in the Philippines.