Immigration Commissioner Siegfred B. Mission. Screengrab from https://www.youtube.com
MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to purchase P70 million worth of computers and equipment as part of its effort to modernize and automate their border control system.
In a news release on Friday, Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison revealed the plan to acquire hundreds of “sophisticated computers and other state-of-the-art devices” this year to improve the bureau’s services for the traveling public.
Mison said funds would come from the approved 2014 budget of the Department of Justice which has P283 million for capital outlays, higher by P66.5 million compared to last year’s appropriation or an increase of 30.74 percent.
Mison disclosed that the P71-million automation projects will include the purchase of 220 units of passport readers, 200 units of workstations, 440 fingerprint scanners, 350 high-definition webcams and 10 document readers.
Mison earlier announced that the BI will be installing 100 biometric machines in the country’s premier airports that would take photographs and signatures of passengers, apart from checking the information written on their passports.
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