34 immigration staffers undergo training

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration is training more personnel as it adopts to the usage of modern technology and equipment in the bureau’s main office and in the country’s premier ports.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan issued an order directing the 34 BI employees to participate in a weeklong in-service training for immigration officers at the Philippine Immigration Academy in Clark Field, Angeles City, Pampanga.

Libanan said the training program, which opened Tuesday and runs to June 3, is part of the BI’s thrust to pursue continuous capacity building program designed to professionalize and improve the knowledge and skills of the bureau’s rank and file. “As we embrace the use of modern technologies in our daily lives, it is just proper that the person manning these equipments must also be skillful,” Libanan said.

The BI chief added that the bureau will continue to use modern equipment and push programs that are comparable to other electronically-advanced countries in the world. The training program which will be administered by the BI Center for Training and Research, will be followed by a post oral evaluation process and a two-day on-the-job training at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on June 7 and 8.

BI training director Simeon Vallada said the two-day on-the-job training will enable the employees to familiarize themselves with their work which he described as very sensitive and vital to the nation’s security. Vallada noted that it was only under Libanan’s stewardship that the training of the personnel became rigid and exhaustive.

It was learned that the trainees attended lectures on immigration laws, rules, procedures, and policies; document fraud and detection; impostor recognition; passenger assessment and profiling; grounds for exclusion and deportation; Philippine citizenship laws; border control information; and international best immigration practices, among others.

 “Since we have modernized our airport operations by installing state-of-the-art equipment, the people manning them should be competent and knowledgeable in their jobs,” said Vallada. He added that the job of an immigration officer has become more difficult nowadays amid the increased influx of foreigners into the country.

BI statistics showed that last year alone, nearly six million foreigners arrived in the country, most of whom were tourists and balikbayans.