The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arguably insulated its airport personnel from negative comments, criticisms, and complaints by disallowing air passengers from using their cellular phones while queued up before the BI counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
“The use of cellular phones or video recording devices, and sharing of photos/videos of any Immigration Personnel is STRICTLY PROHIBITED,” read a BI poster at the NAIA’s Immigration section.
“Any form of slander against the immigration Personnel is prohibited under the Cyberbullying Law Posting of photos/videos without the consent of the immigration Personnel is a direct violation of the Data Privacy Act,” the post stated.
Curiously, the prohibition was enforced amid a controversy over long lines in the airport’s the BI area that have reportedly caused dozens of travelers to miss their flights.
The Manila Standard tried but failed to get any statement from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and other pertinent agencies.
“Why not ask BI about it? I am sure they have an explanation to that,” said MIAA chief information officer Connie Bungag.
A Customs official also said “I tend to agree. But I will study it thoroughly because the airport is a public place and we are public officers.”
Over the past days, the BI came under fire from irate air passengers and netizens over the long lines at the Immigration booths, especially at NAIA terminal 3. There were also reports of missed flights due to the kilometric queues that reportedly took the passengers two hours or more to negotiate.
In January, more than 20 passengers of a local airline were unable to board their flight to Hong Kong due to long queues at the airport. The airline provided them with options such as free rebooking, full refund or travel fund.
MIAA general manager Cesar Chiong earlier said his office was working with the BI to ease congestion of departing passengers at the immigration counters.
“We are getting the commitment from the Bureau of Immigration to increase their manpower even before the surge of passengers comes during the peak hours of the day in order to arrest the build-up of passengers,” he said.
“The processing time is critical here. If we can increase the processing rate of our immigration channels for each passenger, they should not have to wait too long even if the queue grows,” he added.
Chiong also said MIAA has already increased the number of immigration counters, specifically in Terminal 3, from 26 to 29 counters.
In addition to the existing electronic gates, or e-gates, installed by BI for arriving Philippine passport holders, MIAA is also advocating for the installation of new e-gates for departing passengers in order to reduce travelers’ processing time even further.
The MIAA has also requested that airlines open their check-in counters earlier, as arriving passengers who are unable to check-in right away add to the queue. Last December, MIAA removed the initial screening checks at terminal entrances to facilitate passenger entry.
The MIAA also gears up to roll by mid-year more improvements in immigration processing, including a physical re-laying out of Terminal 3 to make room for more immigration counters, and the reassignment of terminals, which aims to turn Terminal 2 into all-domestic.
“MIAA is looking for ways to alleviate the issue as much as we can. In the meantime, we ask for the public’s understanding as the measures are put into place,” Chiong said.
“We are working hard to do everything we can to make NAIA world-class. We welcome the feedback of passengers on incidents like this so that we can be proactive in resolving issues and ensuring a pleasant travel experience for everyone,” he added.