Bi prepares team to support airport ops

CLARK FREEPORT— The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has prepared a rapid response team to augment its operations as a number of its officers are affected by Covid-19.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he has issued a directive to 155 immigration officers and acting immigration officers to provide support and temporarily render duties at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Clark International Airport (CIA).

“These back-up officers will serve as augmentation to render primary inspection duties as some of our frontliners are on quarantine and battling Covid-19,” said Morente.

The augmentation team is composed of officers and acting immigration officers assigned in different back-end offices of its Port Operations Division (POD) as well as its main office and other offices in the metro.

As of Thursday, the BI recorded a total of 158 Covid-positive employees assigned at the POD, 132 of which are assigned at the NAIA, while 14 are assigned in Clark airport.

Immigration's NAIA operations also recorded a total of 180 officers in quarantine for being exposed to Covid-positive cases. “We are keeping our augmentation team on standby to be deployed immediately if the number of officers affected rises further,” said Morente.

He added that their office provides swabbing through their Medical and Dental Section for its employees, as well as Covid-19 vaccines, boosters, and Pneumococcal vaccines.

“We have a Covid Task Force in charge of crafting proactive measures to fight this virus, as well as ensure that protocols are strictly implemented,” he added.