The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Thursday announced it would reassign and deploy more officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to ensure that adequate personnel are manning the counters at the airport’s departure and arrival areas.
BI commissioner Jaime Morente said that he has instructed Port Operations Divison chief Marc Red Mariñas to ensure that immigration officers deployed at Naia were enough to accommodate the “large volume of international travelers” during the Holy Week.
Morente also said that he ordered BI chief personnel officer Grifton Medina to come up with list of immigration officers stationed at the bureau’s main office and other subports.
The officers, Morente explained, may be temporarily reassigned to the Naia during the holidays to prevent long queues at immigration counters.
“I will sign the personnel orders reassigning them to the Naia so as to minimize, if not totally prevent, long queues of passengers in our counters,” Morente said in a statement.
“We assure the traveling public that we have enough personnel to man our booths at the airport during the holidays,” the BI commissioner added, even as he urged passengers to come to the airport early so they won’t miss their flights. /je