A TOP-to-bottom reshuffle will take place at the Bureau of Immigration next week as part of the new administration’s efforts to reduce corruption in the graft-prone agency, which is expected to affect at least 200 personnel assigned in the country’s premier ports.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said he will also create a counter-intelligence group in a bid to stop human trafficking.
Morente said he will see to it that the directives of President Duterte such as cutting red tape to hasten the release of documents, be implemented.
Duterte, in his inaugural speech last June 30, ordered Cabinet secretaries and heads of agencies to reduce requirements and the processing time of all applications, from submission to release.
“We have to do away with redundant requirements,” Morente said, as he stressed that eliminating corruption is foremost on his agenda as the bureau’s top official.
Morente said although the BI was not included in the President’s list of most corrupt government agencies, the bureau must work hard, as he promised to recognize officials and employees who will perform their job satisfactorily.
“You will reap rewards but not monetary,” Morente said, pledging to crack the whip of unscrupulous immigration officers who will facilitate the departure of undocumented Overseas Filipino Workers.
He also plans to institute an “Immigration Transformation Roadmap” that aims to turn the bureau into a more efficient, more professional and more responsive service-agency.
“The ITR expresses our earnest commitment to pursue a genuine transformation program founded on good governance and performance excellence,” Morente said.