More than 800 employees of the Bureau of Immigration have been promoted to officers to occupy positions under the bureau’s port operations division, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Monday.
“Many of these career civil servants are seasoned immigration officers whose promotions are long overdue. They deserved to be rewarded for their long years of service and dedication to their job as border control officers of the country,” Morente said.
Besides being veteran employees, those who will be promoted “are punctual and have good attendance record,” the BI chief said.
BI officer Grifton Medina said the promoted employees will be appointed to occupy most of the 887 new immigration officer positions the DBM created under the Port Operations Division headed by Marc Red Mariñas.
Most of the promoted officers will be assigned to the NAIA and other international airports and seaports throughout the country.
The promotion of BI employees is part of the agency’s efforts to uplift the morale of its employees and facilitate the delivery of more efficient services to the traveling public.
Morente said promoting the employees became possible after the Department of Budget and Management created last April nearly 900 new positions for immigration officers in the BI plantilla.
The promoted BI personnel were recommended to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, have been working at the bureau for many years, and some are about to retire from the service.
BI is under the administrative control and supervision of the DOJ, thus its regular employees who are hired or promoted are all appointed by the Justice secretary.
