The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has assured overseas travellers that efforts are in place to ensure speedy processing at major airports in the Philippines.
This, after a netizen posted on X (formerly Twitter) complaining about long lines at the immigration counters when he arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 last February 19.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco clarified that despite the queues, passengers were speedily processed and the area was empty in 40 minutes.
The commissioner also noted that the long line happened due to a coincidence, as eight international flights carrying almost 1,800 total passengers arrived at the same time period.
Among these flights are airplanes carrying high passenger loads such as those coming from Vancouver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
“Our immigration officers had to process all these flights that arrived at the same time,” Tansingco said.
He added that all counters were fully manned, and all e-gates deployed were fully functional.
Tansingco said that he has been closely monitoring airport operations, and said that heavy queuing was observed at around 6:20 a.m., but the arrival area was clear by 7:00 a.m.
He shared that arrival and departure formalities for primary inspection of foreign nationals at the NAIA and Mactan-Cebu International Airport are ISO 9001:2015 certified, affirming the BI’s continued observance of internationally-recognized organizational practices and its efforts to provide its clients with quality performance and services that are globally competitive.
(OpinYon News Team)