No Lenten break for immigration officers

CLARK FREEPORT -Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel in all international ports in the country have been banned from going on leave to make sure that adequate manpower is available to serve the traveling public during the Holy Week .

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the ban on leave, which started March 15 and ends April 1, was made to ensure that all immigration booths at the airports are fully manned to process the large volume of passengers who are expected to enter and leave the country during the long holidays.

Tansingco bared that the prohibition applies to all employees assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and all other international ports of entry and exit nationwide.

He stressed that the leave ban was implemented to ensure that immigration services to the traveling public are not interrupted during the Lenten break when there is a definite upsurge in passenger volume at the airports.

“We assure the traveling public that our counters are fully manned to process them in our counters,” he said.

The BI said that it projects around 39 to 44 thousand arrivals per day in the next few days.

The agency officials added that they expect around 40,000 to 44,000 international departures.

The BI Chief said they expect the volume of departing passengers to rise by Wednesday.

He added that the volume of arriving passengers, on the other hand, is expected to rise by Sunday.

Tansingco said he has already issued orders temporarily deploying almost 70 additional personnel to augment manpower at major international ai r por t s.

He added that the agency will have mobile counters on standby to help process travelers. #