MANILA -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) assured that its services to the traveling public will remain uninterrupted despite the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and other areas starting today.
“We will continue to operate at full capacity at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to ensure that our services are not hampered and adequate manpower is available to serve passengers arriving and departing at our premiere port,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement.
He stressed that being frontliners, BI port personnel are mandated to ensure that border control function are properly and adequately performed.
Airport personnel, according to Morente, are not covered by the recent Palace directive instructing government offices in Metro Manila to reduce the number of employees in their offices to only 30-50 percent of their operational capacity. Atty. Carlos Capulong, BI port operations chief, said that BI personnel assigned to the NAIA will continue to observe the same work scheme and schedule that was followed prior to the implementation of the ECQ.
He assured that their officers at the airport are always on heightened alert in seeing to it that existing restrictions on international travel are observed and only those who are eligible to travel to the Philippines are allowed entry,” Capulong added.
Currently, the BI implements a strict travel ban from passengers from 10 countries namely India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Passengers who have been to said countries, or have a travel history there within the last 14 days prior to arrival will not be allowed to enter the Philippines.
Capulong also said that to assist port operations personnel, they will be activating their shuttle service for its NAIA personnel during the ECQ period to allow them to report for work and go home after their duty.
“We always remind our airport personnel to adhere to minimum health protocols to protect themselves against this virus. Our duty to the traveling public always comes first, hence we have to make this sacrifice,” he added. (BI)
