BI keeps up training vs smuggling, illegal aliens

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan has oardered the continuous training of BI officers in the country’s airports to combat human smuggling and entry of illegal aliens and terrorists in the country.

Libanan said over 100 immigration officers in different ports of entry nationwide have already undergone special training to detect fraudulent travel documents as part of the bureau’s massive capability-building prograam.

Aimed at bolstering the ability of BI personnel to thwart the entry of illegal aliens, the training programs are being done through the assistance of foreign governments, specifically Australia, United States and Canada, which agreed to share their expertise in the fields of border control and management.

Libanan said that a team of Australian immigration officers has been regularly visiting Manila to train BI employees under its Philippine Border Management Project, a five-year program spearheaded by Canberra’s Department of Immigration and Multi-Cultural Affairs.

A five-year program, the project teaches BI personnel on various technical fields such as passport and visa issuance, migration processes, forensic document examination, document security features, impostor recognition and interviewing techniques, irregular migrants management, and immigration intelligence and enforcement.

BI anti-fraud chief Simeon Vallada also said that fraud prevention officers of the different embassies in Manila are frequently invited as resource persons in training seminars conducted by the bureau for its employees that are usually held at the Philippine Immigration Academy in Clark Field, Pampanga.