Airport authorities ease travelers’ agony
Credit to Author: BENJIE VERGARA, TMT| Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2019 17:04:42 +0000
The long queues at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has become the major source of complaints of passengers, who get riled or stew in worry about missing their flights.
The passengers on morning flights were already complaining of the long and slow movement of the line at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) counters, where standing in the queue for more than an hour before they reached the immigration booth is nothing new.
Despite regular reminders to the public to arrive at the airport three hours before their flights, they can’t seem to figure out the perfect time to be at the country’s main gateway because of the bottleneck at the immigration zone where lines quickly spill over to the counters, leaving foreign and local passengers uneasily awaiting their turn.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), which operates NAIA, has not been able to solve the long lines at the immigration lanes. MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal has deployed public affairs personnel to assist passengers.
The problem started after Malacañang ordered the transfer of the P1.2-billion express lane fee to the treasury, which was the source of the overtime pay of Immigration personnel. The NAIA immigration officers then protested President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to disallow the use of the express lane fees for their allowances. The officers were then told they should just request the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for funds for the payment of overtime work.
DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno has assured the BI that P224,835,000 has been appropriated in the budget specifically for the overtime pay of its employees. Diokno said since there was specific funding for their overtime pay, there was no need to tap into the express lane funds.
Express lane charges are additional costs a foreigner pays for overstaying for a week or a month in the country, as well as to fast-track the processing of his documents.
It was used as a source of funds to pay for the services of the bureau’s confidential agents, contractual employees, other job orders, and for overtime pay. Lower salary grade employees were the most affected by the presidential veto on the use of the express lane charges, particularly those receiving less than the minimum wage.
Marc Red Mariñas, then BI Port Operations Division chief, said with the suspension of overtime pay, several regular staff went on official leave of absence from six months to one year. The other personnel who opted to remain have always been absent or are going undertime, while others have resigned, further depleting the BI’s manpower. Some of the regular employees who quit are lawyers, fed up with the overtime issues.
Former secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd of the Department of Justice, pointed out in a letter to the President, that the elimination of express lane fees has serious implications in the delivery of the BI’s mandate.
He said “the deposit of express lane charges to the general fund will automatically result in the displacement of about 1,000 or 73 percent of the bureau’s workforce by next week. The only source of income of these BI personnel is the express lane fees. Without this, they will automatically lose their jobs and will join the unemployed population of the country.”
Aguirre, with immigration commissioners, and heads of the BI labor groups — Buklod and Immigration Officers Association of the Philippines — lobbied for the restoration of the funds.
Before the introduction of the electronic gates (e-gates) in July 2018, the long queues became longer during peak hours from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 2 to 10 p.m. Passengers of Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air taking international flights were advised to check-in early at the NAIA Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, respectively, before their flight’s estimated time of departure due to insufficient staffing at the immigration counters.
Cebu Pacific Air spokesman Charo Logarta-Lagamon has reacted to how passengers irritably commented to the NAIA congestions. “Queue in immigration is beyond our control. We try to assist as much as we can though.”
In December 2017, Duterte allowed the BI to put the express lane fees into a “trust fund” for the payment of salaries and overtime of its employees.
According to Duterte, the trust fund, which will be subject to guidelines of the Commission on Audit and secretaries of Justice and Budget, will exist until Congress has enacted a new immigration modernization law that will upgrade BI’s compensation system.
With the operation of e-gates at the NAIA in October, the queue at the airport has been minimized. E-gates were introduced more than two months ago and have passed international standards for border control of arriving Filipinos.
Immigration Commissioner Jamie Morente recently said that the e-gates have shortened the processing time of Filipino travelers holding machine readable passports to only 8 to 15 seconds per passengers from the previous 45 seconds.
The e-gates quickly reduces the volume of passengers queuing at immigration during peak hours.
Called “Fast Travel” program, it was introduced by the International Air Transport Association to simplify and improve the clearing processes. It is also used in pinpointing citizens under the watch list and or persons of interest in immigration formalities.
There are 13 e-gate machines that were put up in NAIA — five at NAIA 1, three at NAIA 2, and five at NAIA 3. Mactan-Cebu will have five units; Clark, five; and Davao International Airport, three, and soon all airports in the country will be provided with e-gate machines.
The national government funded the project to the tune of P328,869,000.
“The intent is to speed up immigration process in terms of swiping of passports biometrics and facial capturing. As our passengers get used to the process, the targeted 12- to 15- seconds timeline will be the norm. This innovation at the country’s main gateway is part of modern aviation culture. A step in the right direction,” said Philippine Airlines spokesman Cielo Villaluna.
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