THE Bureau of Immigration has urged Congress to approve its proposed budget of P974 million for next year.
Based on the document submitted by the bureau to Congress, a total of P742.812 million will be used for the bureau’s operations as the country’s immigration regulatory and control body of foreign nationals.
While a total of P63.375 million was earmark for projects and programs of the bureau.
Part of the bureau’s operations is the appropriations of P81.32 million for intelligence and security services. The amount will be used to conduct arrests of fugitive aliens in the country.
As of July 2016, the BI only has 1,634 organic employees, far from its ideal 4,000-member workforce.
The bureau also want Congress to remove the provision in the General Appropriations Act seeking to require the bureau to deposit express lane fees (ELFs) collected at airports with the National Treasury.
The ELF is currently deposited in a BI Special Trust Account (STA) and had been the source of the honoraria and allowances of BI employees, particularly its contractual personnel.
“The fund allows the bureau to augment our meager manpower resources to fulfill our duty despite our little workforce,” an immigration official who asked not to be named said.
The BI also explained that proceeds from the ELF pay for the allowances of its contractual and job order employees, which comprise 25 percent of the bureau’s more than 2000 total employees.
The bureau also said that express lane fees are needed to pay the allowance and overtime pay of its personnel, particularly the Immigration Officers (IO) who are working on shifts to guard the premier port against undesirable aliens and terrorists who want to enter the country.
It was learned that there is only one Immigration Officer for every 1,500 arriving passengers, a far cry to other Asian countries.
Malaysia has one immigration officer per 35 arriving passengers, Singapore has 1 IO for 17 passengers, while Indonesia has 1 IO for 77 arriving passengers.
