Congress urged to pass new immigration law

As the Bureau of Immigration (BI) marks its 77th anniversary on Monday, its employees have called on Congress to pass a new law to replace the “antiquated” Commonwealth Act No. 613, or the Immigration Act of 1940, under which the agency still operates.

“We appeal to our lawmakers in Congress to prioritize the passage of a new Philippine Immigration Act. This law is long overdue and now is the time to pass it,” Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement.

Morente said CA 613 was no longer attuned to present realities as the said law was passed during the Commonwealth period when the country was still a dependent territory of the United States.

“In those days we were not yet confronted with the problems of terrorism and human trafficking. And ideas such as globalization, borderless economies and free trade were not yet practiced,” Morente said.

“It’s about time that we enact a new immigration law that will cater to our national interest in these modern times,” he added.

According to the BI chief, the new immigration law should be crafted to address the “ever-growing” threat of international trafficking and the scourge of human trafficking that has victimized many Filipinos.

He said the new law should also plug “loopholes” in the BI’s systems and practices that were prone to corrupt practices.

Morente said corruption in the agency could be curbed if the law was to upgrade the salary scales of BI employees which he described as “very low” compared to their counterparts in other Asian countries.

Several attempts have been made in recent years, but congressional approval was delayed and aborted due to lack of time.

Last month, the House committee on justice merged several bills into one that, among others, seeks the reform of the country’s immigration laws and the creation of a Commission on Immigration. In the Senate, there are three calling for the passage of a new immigration law.

It was on Sept. 3, 1940, that then US President Franklin Roosevelt signed CA 613, which created the BI under the supervision of the Office of the President (OP).

The bureau was successively attached to the Department of Justice (DOJ), then to the OP again, and to the labor department.

In 1948, the BI reverted to the DOJ where it remains up to the present. From 1972 to 1987, the bureau was known as the Commission on Immigration and Deportation.