BI to deploy 100 more officers at NAIA for the holidays

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will deploy an additional 100 immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other international airports next month. (Photo by Jill Shih/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will deploy an additional 100 immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other international airports next month.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said Tuesday the hiring of more personnel at the country’s airports is in anticipation of the influx of travelers during the holiday season.

He said they expect the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the appointment papers of the newly-hired personnel this month so the new hires could immediately undergo training and assume their posts this November.

Morente said most of the applicants to be hired as permanent employees were contractual workers who have served the BI for many years.

“As we have stated before, it is about time that we recognize the services of these employees by rewarding them with permanent items in our plantilla,” the BI chief said in a statement.

“These employees were always by-passed or left out of the job selection process in previous years although they are qualified and have civil service eligibility,” he added.

Morente said the posting of additional personnel would mean lesser passenger queues in NAIA’s immigration counters during the ASEAN summit and the holiday season.

On the other hand, BI Chief Personnel Officer and concurrent acting spokesman Grifton Medina said an applicant for the position of Immigration Officer I must possess a civil service professional eligibility and must be a holder of a four-year college degree.

“We have been careful and meticulous in our screening and selection process to make sure that our recruits are competent and qualified to discharge their duties as Border Control Officers of our country,” he said.

The BI official added that with the impending passage of a new immigration act, it is imperative that BI officers and employees possess the qualification standards that would entitle them to salary upgrades that they have been asking from Malacañang and the Congress.