MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration has ordered that all of its more than 3,000 officials and employees nationwide must undergo mandatory rapid antibody tests for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Thursday that BI employees who will refuse to take the test will not be allowed to report for work.
“We have decided to make these tests compulsory for all our personnel to further safeguard the health of our employees and the people who transact business in our offices due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country,” he said in a statement.
Morente also instructed employees assigned in the different Immigration field offices and sub-ports outside of Metro Manila to coordinate with the local government units in their respective areas for the conduct and access to free COVID-19 tests for frontliners.
The BI medical section previously conducted several rapid tests for its employees at the bureau’s main office, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Clark Airport, and at its detention facility in Taguig City but these were all done on a voluntary basis.
Morente said that as an additional precautionary measure, he also required that all accredited liaison officers and representatives of travel agencies and law offices transacting at the Bureau of Immigration to also take the same tests or they will not be allowed entry into the bureau’s premises.
According to Morente, mandatory rapid tests for BI employees started Wednesday at the BI’s main building in Intramuros, Manila with the help of the city government that sent a team of frontliners from the city health office to do the tests.
About a third of the bureau’s total number of employees voluntarily took part in previous rapid tests conducted by the BI medical team, according to BI acting spokesman Melvin Mabulac.
To recall, the BI earlier announced the temporary closure and disinfection of its main building last Monday after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.