WITH the fast-paced development in information and communications technology and amid corruption issues affecting the bureau, lawmakers are asking the leadership of Congress to make their priority 12 bills seeking to modernize the Bureau of Immigration (BI) when session resumes on Monday (November 16).
South Cotabato Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez are among those who filed bills amending the Philippine Immigration Act (PIA) of 1940 to make it more responsive to the times.
The measures are all pending before the House Committee on Justice.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agency, the BI, have been pushing for the passage of these bills.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, in a BusinessMirror report at the weekend, said they have always believed that the current low salaries of immigration personnel are a key factor making them vulnerable to bribery and to committing other illegal acts.
Moreover, Hernandez said recent developments point to the need for BI’s modernization.
“One need only look at the news to see the increase in crimes committed by aliens, such as human trafficking, drug manufacturing and selling and child prostitution. Meanwhile, the salary structure of the Bureau of Immigration needs to become more competitive, as the myriad problems mentioned necessitate the recruitment and maintenance of high quality immigration personnel, for the enforcement of our immigration laws,” he added.
Hernandez’s House Bill 4791 or the Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act seeks to amend the PIA by providing clearer boundaries between offices in order to lessen red tape, updating the data gathering, compiling an analysis system of the bureau, sharpening the competencies of immigration officials and professionalizing them.
It also creates new classifications of undesirable aliens to provide for new problems and situations; increases the types of visas to make immigration more flexible to draw in more investment, reorganizing the bureau, and making the BI salary structure more competitive in order to attract the best talents available.
In his House Bill 4103, House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chairman Rodriguez is also pushing for the modernization of the bureau.
“Despite numerous developments in technology and communication, there are several antiquated laws in our statute books which are no longer relevant to modem times. One of them is Commonwealth Act 613, otherwise known as the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940,” he said.
However, he said events of recent years have disclosed that many aliens in the country have been involved, at one time or another, in organized crime like illegal recruitment, prostitution, drug trafficking, terrorism, human smuggling and the like, all of which created the general impression of both Filipinos and foreigners alike that some aliens have fueled the rise of criminality in the country.
Rodriguez’s bill also seeks the expansion of BI’s organizational structure and upgrades the existing positions of immigration personnel and administrative staff to adequately meet the country’s rapidly increasing immigration services. It also seeks to sharpen the border and migration control expertise of immigration personnel while expanding, rationalizing and professionalizing the bureau.
Image credits: Philippine Bureau of Immigration Via AP