THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deployed 30 additional staff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in anticipation of the influx of holiday air travelers.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said 30 immigration officers have been reassigned at the country's premier airport for faster processing of arriving and departing travelers.
"They should be rendering counter duties at the airport where their services are most needed especially at this time of the year when we expect the volume of passengers at the Naia to begin increasing steadily until after the New Year," he said in a statement.
The additional staffs were previously detailed at the bureau's main office and other BI field offices nationwide.
The BI chief also announced that some 40 newly hired immigration officers will start reporting for duty at the Naia early next month after finishing their three-month training in immigration laws, rules and procedures at the immigration academy in Clark Field, Pampanga.
"The deployment of more immigration officers to the Naia will definitely reduce, if not eliminate, the long queues of passengers that are always seen in our counters at the airport at the onset of the Yuletide season," Morente said.
At the same time, he revealed that additional intelligence agents will also be assigned to constantly monitor arriving and departing passengers at the airport.
"We have specifically instructed our agents to be on the lookout for undesirable aliens, including suspected terrorists and drug mules, who might take advantage of the holiday break to sneak into the country," Morente added.
With this, he directed personnel assigned at the BI's travel control and enforcement unit to monitor strictly departing travelers to prevent human traffickers and illegal recruiters from realizing their illegal tactics.
"This is the time of the year that we cannot relax our guard. We shall maintain the highest state of alert throughout the holiday season to ensure that our borders are safe and secure," added the BI chief. (Sunnex)