MANILA, Philippines — Central offices of the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) operating units are now back at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 building.
The return of these offices to NAIA Terminal 3 is in anticipation of the looming resumption of normal operations in the country’s main airport. Some airlines will reportedly revive international flights by July 1.
Specifically, those who have returned to NAIA Terminal 3 are the heads and the deputy chiefs and staff of the Port Operations Division and its attached sections, as well as border control and intelligence unit, travel control and enforcement unit, quality management unit, special concerns, anti-fraud section, and the anti-terrorist group.
To recall, BI had to relocate its offices and personnel to NAIA Terminal 1 after the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) shut down its operations in three other NAIA terminals amid cancellation of most international flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Thursday said the agency is expecting more inbound flights in the coming days as thousands of returning Filipino migrant workers are yet to arrive in the country.
“We assure the public that we have the necessary manpower who will be on duty to serve these flights,” he said in a statement.
Morente also assured that strict health protocols will be practiced by their personnel and other frontliners as they begin its transition to the “new normal.”
Meanwhile, frontline immigration officers, supervisors, and their support personnel who perform counter duties, primary and secondary inspection, intelligence operations, and administrative functions remain at NAIA Terminals 1 and 2, according to BI acting Port Operations chief Grifton Medina.
“We are ready to redeploy our officers at Terminal 3 when international flights resume there anytime,” he said in the same statement.