At least 500 immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport were rotated anew as part of the agency’s continuing program to prevent corruption and improve its service to the traveling public.
Bureau of Immigration OIC Deputy Commissioner Marc Red Mariñas said immigration personnel performing counter duties were given new assignments in Terminals 1, 2 and 3 of the Naia.
It was in November last year that the BI Port Operations Division, which Mariñas heads, implemented a similar rotation of airport personnel.
“There were no exemptions from the personnel movement, and we rotated not just terminals, but also shift schedules,” Mariñas said.
He said the rotation was to “prevent fraternization among employees,” seen as a possible source of corruption in government.
He added that moving employees from one workplace to another has been found to enhance productivity and dynamism within an organization.
“After five or six months, we will again rotate their terminal assignments at the airport. This is a continuing activity that we do not intend to stop or scrap,” he said.
He said the move came after conducting risk assessment in their processes to improve their operations.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the BI would be hiring more immigration personnel in the next few weeks in addition to the 100 personnel who were already hired and deployed to the Naia.
The BI chief said the bureau was determined to hire more Immigration officers to augment its manpower at the Naia to address the perennial problem of long passenger queues at the airport.
Morente added that two weeks ago, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra issued a department order directing 44 immigration officers previously assigned at the BI Main Office and other field offices to report to the Naia.