TO FACILITATE processing of the arrival clearance for Filipino passengers at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport (FBIA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) launched the E-Gates on Wednesday, October 31.

BI FBIA terminal headquarter supervisor Eric Fernandez said the FBIA is the second airport in the Philippines to have E-Gates after the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

This also makes Davao City the first in Mindanao to have two E-Gates in serving the Filipino passengers.

“Ginagawa rin natin ito as we expect the peak season of the arrival of Filipino passengers galing international flights para mabilis ang pag-clear dun sa passport,” Fernandez said.

(We are doing this as we expect Filipino arrivals to peak. This aims to fast-track the clearance of their passports.)

“So instead na mag-pass sila with the stamps sa mga personnel namin sa Bureau of Immigration, yung automated process will give a sticker dun sa passports pagdating nila sa Davao (So instead of them passing with the stamps from our personnel at the Bureau of Immigration, the automated process will give a sticker on the passports as they arrive in Davao),” Christine H. Tavarro, Immigration officer, said in an interview.

Fernandez said the newly launched E-Gates will streamline the arrival clearing processes for the passengers.

“From the 45-second transaction they have with the immigration officers, the E-Gates will only give Filipino passengers eight to ten seconds in transacting,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez added the E-Gates will serve only Filipino passengers for now.