45 Immigration employees axed

THE leadership of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has sacked 45 of its employees as a result of intensified campaign against corrupt and inefficient personnel in the agency, an official said Tuesday.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said that of the 45 employees who were sacked since January 2011, 39 were dismissed for serious administrative offenses while the six others were dropped from the rolls for going on absence without leave (Awol).

"Our mission to purge this bureau of misfits will continue," said David, who recalled that cleansing the agency of corruption was the marching order President Benigno Aquino III gave him when he was appointed BI chief two years ago.

He added that aside from sacking 45 employees, he suspended 48 other personnel for involvement in less serious offenses.

Earlier, the BI announced the creation of a new Board of Discipline that will investigate all administrate complaints lodged against the agency's officials and employees.

The board, which was placed under David's direct supervision, replaced the defunct internal affairs unit (IAU) under the BI administrative division.

Alberto Braganza, BI acting administrative division chief, said some of the dismissed and suspended employees were disciplined on orders of the Office of the Ombudsman.

He also explained that those who went Awol were dropped from the rolls for not reporting for work for more than a month and not filing the necessary leaves of absence.

“We are not only purging our ranks of rotten eggs. Employees who do not perform well and are habitually absent and late are also removed,” Braganza said.

He stressed that the campaign to professionalize the BI will not succeed if there are employees who do not meet the ethical standards for civil servants.

Braganza said that over the last two years the BI has already hired 300 new employees, most of them immigration officers, who are now either assigned at the airports or manning frontline services in the bureau’s main and field offices. (SDR/Sunnex)