MANILA, Philippines--The Philippines will push for the adoption of common visa among citizens of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during the start of the meeting of ASEAN immigration chiefs and consuls in Manila on Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the Philippines will actively campaign for the plenary approval of a common ASEAN visa among ASEAN member-countries.

“This common ASEAN visa is comparable to the Schengen visa being given by European countries where the holders can travel within European Schengen states,” Libanan said.

Libanan said the adoption of a common ASEAN visa would bring huge benefits to its member-countries, particularly in the fields of trade, investments and tourism.

“It’s like a multi-country swing where a traveler can roam freely within ASEAN region. This is in line with the one ASEAN community by the 2015 as envisioned in its charter,” Libanan said.

The Philippines, through the Bureau of Immigration, is hosting the 13th ASEAN Directors-General of Immigration Department and Heads of Consular Division of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (DGICM) and 5th ASEAN Immigration Intelligence Forum (AIIF) that will formally open Monday.

Held every year, this year’s three-day DGICM meeting will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City where all heads of the immigration and consular departments of the ASEAN will gather for a three-day conference.

DGICM was created when the ASEAN Ministers adopted the ASEAN declaration on transnational crime in December 1997. It was a regional tool to combat transnational crimes.

Lawyer Floro Balato Jr., BI spokesman and DGICM’s public information committee chair said the meeting will also discuss developments on last year’s agenda which includes among others the status on the creation of ASEAN immigration and consular websites, and the implementation on the emergency response of ASEAN members-countries.

Balato added that the meeting will also tackle the adoption of real-time information sharing and inquiry on lost passports and regional analysis on irregular people movement among ASEAN members and facial image analysis training to be conducted by Australian immigration officials.

“The real-time sharing of information on lost or stolen ASEAN passports will add more teeth to the global campaign against the proliferatin of fraudulent travel documents,” Balato explained.

Attending the meeting are the immigration chief, immigration intelligence chiefs, and consuls from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam and officials of the Australian immigration and citizenship office.