PRESS RELEASE 31 JULY 2014 IMMIGRATION READY FOR AIRPORT TRANSFERS “It will be a photo finish”, says BI Comm Mison Manila, Philippines---As five major airlines prepare for their eventual transfer from NAIA terminal I to terminal 3, the Bureau of Immigration is equally busy preparing a smooth transfer of their personnel to avoid an interruption in services. The agency is preparing to deploy 160 additional Immigration officers to augment existing personnel servicing the expected influx of travellers in the country’s international airport. Bureau of Immigration chief Siegfred Mison describes their hectic preparations as somewhat like a “photo finish. The transfer of flights of these airlines were part of efforts by the government to decongest NAIA 1 of passengers and maximise use of the newly-completed facilities of NAIA 3. Initial transfer will take place today, July 31. “We have augmented our existing manpower complement in NAIA 3 to properly meet the influx of passengers from the additional flights”, said BI NAIA 3 Terminal Head Mary Ann Velasco. Additional personnel to beef up immigration operations include immigration officers, intelligence agents, security personnel and administrative staff. Transfer plans also include additional equipment composed of computers and passport readers. The first scheduled flights to move to NAIA3 are Delta Air Lines flights DL473 and DL629 which are scheduled to arrive from Narita and Nagoya, respectively, on Thursday evening. Other airline companies such Royal Dutch Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Cathay Pacific Airways are scheduled to move to NAIA 3 in August. Mison says a group of highly trained and professional immigration officers will soon strengthen the ranks of airport assigned officers at NAIA 3. These fresh “reinforcements” of officers will help improve working conditions and lessen stress normally felt by immigration officers who have to extend their work hours in the past because of lack of replacements. With newer equipment and highly trained personnel manning the immigration counters, this will speed up and aid in the delivery of immigration services for outbound and inbound passengers using airport terminals. “The deployment of 160 new immigration officers and coming in of new equipment in August is right in time for the transfer of the four other airlines in the coming weeks”, Mison assured. The new immigration officers would have completed the six-week BI immigration officers course by the time of the transfer of all five airlines. Likewise, a new set of passport readers are expected to be installed in the next few weeks following the transfer. The agency hopes that passport readers will further speed up services and eliminate long queues in immigration counters. Mison says that the installation of these passport readers would have been completed already had the bidding not failed and rebidded. “Due to an earlier failed bidding on the acquisition of passport bidders, we have restarted the bidding process and will soon issue a Notice to Proceed to the winning bidder”, explained Mison.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 00:07:39 +0000
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