MANILA — A total of 99 newly-recruited immigration officers will be reporting to their assigned shifts and terminals at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) starting Tuesday.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente noted that the deployment of new employees aims to augment manpower at the premiere port this season at the height of the peak travel season.
The new personnel have just completed their four-month training at the Philippine Immigration Academy in Clark, Pampanga.
He also described the new employees as “young and idealistic men and women who are all eager to assume their new roles as gatekeepers of the country.”
“As a result of their deployment, these long queues of passengers at our immigration counters at the airport will be reduced, if not totally eliminated,” Morente said in a statement.
On the other hand, BI port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas added that the personnel deployment is very appropriate, since the volume of passenger at the NAIA has been constantly increasing in the past days.
“We shall see to it that all our booths at the airport are manned by personnel who will conduct immigration formalities for arriving and departing passengers,” the BI official added.
He also advised passengers to be at the airport at least three hours before their flights to avoid inconvenience.
Meanwhile, Mariñas reported that some 20 immigration officers were recently reassigned from the international airport in Kalibo to either NAIA or Mactan airport due to the closure of the Boracay island resort.
He said the temporary shutdown of the island has prompted airline companies to suspend their flights to Kalibo, has enabled the BI to temporarily reassign its personnel to other ports where their services are equally needed. (Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
