House passes bill raising salaries of BI personnel

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has passed on final reading a measure, which seeks to modernize and raise the compensation of officials and personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Members of the House of Representatives voted 209-0-0 on Monday to approve House Bill No. 8850, or the BI Modernization Act, on third reading.

The measure improves the compensation of immigration personnel by raising the salary grade of immigration officers, with a minimum of SG 13 for Immigration Officer I and SG 20 for Senior Immigration Officer.

It authorizes the board of commissioners to retain and use 30 percent of collections from immigration fees, fines and penalties and other income that should not exceed P1.2 billion a year.

The bill creates a trust fund to be sourced from the 30 percent retained income. This will be used for the modernization of equipment.