BI extends work hours following restoration of OT pay

FILE: BI Commissioner Jaime Morente (Photo: Bureau of Immigration)

MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has reverted to its old work schedule as a way of showing their gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte for approving the granting of overtime pay to its personnel.

With this, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente has instructed the BI main office and all its satellite and field offices nationwide to observe the new office schedule from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., which took effect Wednesday.

In a statement, he said that the adjustment in work schedule is their answer to the President’s directive to create a trust fund from which the overtime pay of the agency’s workers would be sourced.

In his speech during the agency’s flag-raising ceremony, Morente again extended his gratitude to the President for restoring the overtime pay of the bureau’s personnel.

“Let us reciprocate with dedicated and sincere service the trust that the President bestowed on the BI,” he said.

The bureau will resume charging express lane fees to the transacting public, the proceeds of which will be used for the salaries and overtime pay of BI employees.

In creating the trust fund, the President said he recognizes the hard work and sacrifices made by BI employees whose primary duty is to guard the ports of entry and regulate the entry and stay of foreigners in the country.

Morente also thanked Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and his deputies for supporting the bureau’s efforts to persuade the Palace to reinstate their overtime pay.

He likewise acknowledged the efforts of BI Associate Commissioners J. Tobias Javier and Aimee Torrefranca-Neri and the officers of the employees’ union Buklod and Immigration Officers Association of the Philippines Inc., who lobbied hard for the restoration of the express lane fund. (PNA)