The Bureau of Immigration has assured the public that it has sufficient manpower to cater to the expected increase in passengers during the summer season.
Currently, the Bureau sees around 30,000 daily arrivals and processes around 34,000 daily departures according to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.
Tansingco said that apart disallowing leaves for port personnel during the peak season, he has already instructed all airport terminal heads to personally make sure that all counters are fully manned to service inbound and outbound passengers.
He also instructed the BI terminal heads to engage airlines for more efficient processing of passengers.
Airport authorities, he said, have shared that the BI’s space in NAIA Terminal 3 will be expanded soon, which will allow them to deploy more immigration officer. They are expecting a new batch of 38 immigration officers to graduate from the BI’s academy in Clark, followed by a batch of 147 additional immigration officers.
Tansingco shared that they are constantly hiring immigration officers to add to the increasing demand as international travel surges.
Meanwhile, the Bureau addressed a viral Twitter post showing that photos and videos are not allowed in the immigration area.
Tansingco explained that this policy of disallowing photos and videos in the immigration area is not new and similar signage has been posted in the past, and the same is being practiced at other counters as well.
However, the BI chief agreed that the signage has to be improved to reflect the hospitality of the Filipino people.
Tansingco also stated that while the policy remains, he instructed the BI airport management to temporarily remove the signage so that it can be improved.