All immigration personnel in all international airports and seaports were placed on heightened alert due to the expected huge number of passengers who would travel in and out of the country during the Lenten break.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he has ordered the deployment of more than 50 Immigration officers to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to augment the number of personnel manning the immigration booths in the arrival and departure areas of the premiere port during the peak season.
“I have also directed our Port Operations Division [POD] to implement stricter measures in screening all arriving and departing passengers and to ensure that enough manpower are available in our airports to service the needs of the traveling public,” Morente said.
BI POD Chief Grifton Medina said that in compliance with Morente’s directive, he issued a memorandum banning all BI airport personnel, including the terminal heads and duty supervisors, from going on leave from April 8 to 22.
“Except for meritorious or emergency reasons, no applications for vacation leave will be entertained or acted upon by my office during the 10-day period,” he said.
As for the 50 more immigration officers temporarily reassigned to the NAIA, Medina said the employees were picked from the main office and the different field, satellite and extension offices of the BI nationwide.
“We have also instructed members of our travel control and enforcement unit [TCEU] and border control and intelligence unit [BCIU] to double their vigilance during this critical period,” Medina added.
TCEU and BCIU personnel at the airports assist BI frontline officers in monitoring arriving alien passengers in order to prevent the entry of undesirable aliens into the country.
They also remain on the lookout for suspected human trafficking victims so that the latter are prevented from departing for their foreign destinations.
“We assure the public that we will do our best to foil attempts by these syndicates to take advantage of the holidays in sneaking their victims in or out of the country,” Medina said.