More than 500 immigration officers assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport were reshuffled as part of the Bureau of Immigration’s continuing program to curb corruption among its personnel and improve immigration service.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said immigration officers manning the arrival and departure counters at the Naia were transferred to different immigration counters of the three Naia terminals.
“No one was exempted from the personnel movement. The scheme to randomly rotate the terminal assignments of BI-Naia personnel was aimed at preventing fraternization among the employees,” he said.
“Fraternization has long been pinpointed as a major source of corruption among employees in government. It is this familiarization that we are trying to prevent by implementing this scheme,” the BI chief said.
The last time the terminal assignments of Naia’s immigration officers were rotated was in December last year.
Morente instructed BI port operations chief Marc Red Mariñas to implement the rotation scheme every four months instead of every six months. He observed that six months is more than enough time for the employees to fraternize or familiarize with one another, thus increasing the likelihood of them engaging in corruption.
Meanwhile, Mariñas said that the long passenger queues at Naia’s immigration counters have dissipated with the deployment of additional immigration officers to the airport.
He added that the number of immigration officers who were absent from work have significantly lessened, apparently due to Malacañang assurances that it will address the BI workers’ demand for higher salaries.
Mariñas also said that as soon as the next batch of new immigration officers are appointed and trained, the public can expect better service in time for the Christmas season.