BI purges hold departure, watch lists

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday said it has removed nearly 6,000 people from its hold departure and watch list as part of ongoing efforts of the agency to sanitize its records and purge it of expired and obsolete derogatory orders.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said in a statement that the bureau has lifted 810 hold departure orders (HDOs) and 5,005 watch list orders (WLOs) from its database. The orders were previously issued by the bureau against individuals who were subjects of criminal and administrative complaints before the bureau or the Department of Justice.

“We hope that as a result of this cleansing process, fewer people will be inconvenienced at the airports and prevented from leaving because their names happen to be on our derogatory list,” the commissioner said.

David added that the bureau has started reviewing its records and initially found out that there were “thousands” more of expired hold departure and watch list orders which should be erased from the bureau’s database in the coming weeks.

However, stressed that HDOs and WLOs which are subject of pending court litigations will not be lifted.