The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday signed a P1.5-billion contract with technology firm iWave Inc. to procure additional electronic gates at the country’s international airports, a move aimed at speeding up passenger processing and curbing corruption.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado led the contract signing at the BI’s Manila office.
Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the project would be implemented immediately, beginning with the installation of the new e-gates.
Sandoval said the technology could cut processing time to as fast as eight seconds per passenger, from the current 45 seconds under manual inspection.
She added that the system would also reduce opportunities for corruption, noting that automated processing limits human intervention.
The BI plans to convert half of the manual immigration operations at international ports to electronic gates, starting with arriving Filipino passengers and later expanding to departing Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers and selected foreign nationals.
The project follows the recent rollout of 78 biometric e-gates at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, unveiled earlier this month and now operating at Terminals 1 and 3.
