THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on October 7 reshuffled around 500 officers assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Deputy Port Operations Division Chief Marc Red Mariñas said the move is “part of a continuing program by the agency to prevent fraternization and improve its services.”
Reporting to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, Mariñas said the BI agents were notified of their new posting last Thursday.
The affected officers, who were on frontline duties, admitted they were surprised by the move, “as we do not expect the otation to happen before the year-end.”
Mariñas said the rotation only complied with Morente’s directive to regularly rotate BI officers at various passenger terminals. “No one [is] exempted from the rotation,” he said, adding that the scheme, which was first implemented in July, would be initiated again early next year.
“Aside from rotating terminal assignments, some officers were likewise transferred to other shifts, based on the results of the assessment of their work performance,” Mariñas noted.
He added that fraternization among the employees was oftentimes pinpointed as a major source of corruption in the government.
”The rotation is more of a preventive measure to thwart corruption,” Mariñas quoted Morente as saying.
The BI will continue to hire additional personnel in 2019.
Earlier, close to 100 immigration officers completed an immigration course at the Philippine Immigration Academy.