Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it is addressing its lack of personnel as it expects long immigration lines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) ahead of the Holy Week.
The BI also said there have been long queues at immigration booths recently following mass resignations and several officers going on leave over non-payment of their overtime.
Immigration Spokesperson Atty. Tonette Mangrobang said some immigration officers have called in sick just a few hours before their shifts.
During the morning shift on Wednesday, CNN Philippines learned only 15 immigration officers were on duty instead of 18 manning immigration counters.
Last weekend, more than 20 employees were on sick leave.
The Philippine Airlines (PAL) advised its passengers Tuesday to arrive four to five hours before their flights in anticipation of long immigration lines.
The BI said it is on top of the situation, and will be deploying around 170 more officers for the Lenten season.
The shortage in personnel comes after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed a 2017 budget provision on the use of Express Lane Funds (ELF) to augment the overtime pay of immigration personnel.
The ELF is taken from the Express Lane — a service that charges an additional fee for faster processing of documents.
Prior to President Duterte’s veto, the ELF had been the source of overtime pay for BI employees for 29 years. However, following the budget amendment, funds from the express lane are now remitted to the General Fund of the National Treasury.
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente called on the employees to act with “professionalism and prudence” while waiting for the appeal to bring back the allowance.
He also appealed to the budget department, saying overtime pay from the ELF “served as a much-needed augmentation for the low salary levels of the regular employees of the Bureau.”
Morente said a letter request had been issued by immigration officers to postpone the processing of regular overtime pay until the matter is resolved.
“BI employees believe that proceeding with the request for payment of the regular OT pay may be construed later as abdication of their appeal to bring back the honorarium/allowance from the ELF,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it approved 887 additional immigration officers and assistant positions to add to the existing 1,203 positions in the bureau.
This will require an estimated personnel services cost of P381.2 million, which does not include the amount for overtime pay.
CNN Philippines’ Correspondents Camille Abadicio and Yumi Lugod and Digital Producer VJ Bacungan contributed to this report.
