The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that its personnel are in full force following the expected surge of passengers during the holiday season.
According to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, he has instructed the Port Operations Division to ensure that adequate manpower are deployed to service arriving and departing passengers.
The BI, he said, is processing around 35,000 daily arrivals and around 29,000 departures for all international airports. The increase in the number of travelers, according to the BI, is a sign that worldwide tourism in picking up.
“We recently attended an immigration forum in Japan, and we were able to discuss with other immigration agencies worldwide that there is really an evident increase in travelers. Many reported long immigration lines in their own countries,” said Tansingco.
Tansingco said that while long lines are inevitable, they are ensuring that passengers are processed expeditiously.
“All counters are manned, and passengers are processed within the 45 second international standard,” said Tansingco. “The e-gates are also operational, and allows decreasing processing time to as low as 8 seconds for Filipinos,” he added.
The BI earlier reported that frontline personnel are barred from going on leave during the holiday season. (JERRY S. TAN)
