The Bureau of Immigration will deploy at least 100 newly hired immigration officers as primary inspectors at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other ports before the year ends.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the new BI personnel, with the item of Immigration Officer 1, were recently appointed by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to fill the vacancies in the bureau’s plantilla.
Morente said the appointment comes at a more opportune time as the bureau anticipates a gradual reopening of the country’s borders to more international travelers in the next several months.
“We thank Secretary Guevarra for these new appointments, we will be more prepared and are assured that sufficient manpower will be available in our ports to address the influx of passengers,” Morente said.
According to BI Personnel Chief Grifton Medina, 94 of the newly-hired immigration officers have a plantilla position under the Immigration Regulation Division, while six are under the Port Operations Division.
Medina said the 100 are set to be deployed soon, upon submission of their required documents and completion of their extensive training on immigration laws, rules and procedures.
However, due to the pandemic, the new employees will have to be trained through virtual learning sessions instead of the usual face-to-face, stay-in classes at the BI’s training academy in Clark, Pampanga.
Morente said the bulk of the new BI inspectors will be deployed to the NAIA, the country’s premiere port.
“We are hoping that our international flight operations will gradually return to normal before the year ends, following the government’s aggressive vaccine campaign. As the country begins to reopen its economy, perhaps so, too, will our borders reopen slowly,” Morente said.
“Thus I have ordered that these new immigration officers be trained immediately so they can graduate in time for the normalization of our international travel operations,” Morente said.