Panayam kay Bureau of Immigration Deputy Spokesperson Melvin Mabulac
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00:00 Passenger arrivals, this month of December, we will discuss with Deputy Spokesperson Melvin Mabulac of the Bureau of Immigration.
00:09 Sir, good afternoon and welcome to the new Philippines today.
00:14 Good afternoon, Usec Wards, Ms. Nina and all the listeners and viewers. Good afternoon.
00:23 Sir, from your assessment, have passengers or tourists arrived in the country for the upcoming holiday celebration?
00:31 How many passengers are expected by the Immigration Bureau?
00:40 We saw the increase in passengers this December, last month of 2023. We expect that the number of passengers will reach 1.5 million.
00:55 We are close to the pre-pandemic number. Last month alone, there were more than 1,160,000 passengers and half of them are foreigners.
01:12 We can see the increase and the number of passengers in the Philippines.
01:19 Deputy Melvin, good afternoon. Sir, what is the reason for the increase or increase in the number of visitors and those who are returning to the Philippines?
01:29 We can see that this is a revenge travel after a few years of travel restrictions.
01:39 We know that when we celebrate Christmas, many people visit us and celebrate here, considering that our Christmas gifts are different.
01:52 We have many countrymen who are living abroad and they also want to go home this December and this Christmas.
02:01 Sir, if we compare this to 2020, where the pandemic was declared, you said that the number of visitors has increased and is close to the pre-pandemic.
02:10 How many percent of the number of visitors are visiting the country?
02:17 And my other question, is there an increase in the number of outbound passengers this year?
02:26 We are looking at more than 70 percent because during the pandemic period, less than 100,000 in a month are arriving.
02:38 We also saw that in November, 1.1 million people departed from our country. This is close to the pre-pandemic because during the pre-pandemic, that was November of 2019,
02:55 the number of people departing from our country is 1.3 million, less than 200,000. This is a very alive display of the travel of our countrymen,
03:10 including as well the foreigners visiting our country.
03:14 Deputy Melvin, I hope we can reach those figures because during the pandemic, you said that only 10 percent of the people came and went.
03:25 Yes, it's a bit different. It's really small. We're very happy that the number of passengers is back.
03:39 Deputy, can you explain the deployment of the BIA personnel this year to help alleviate the congestion in our areas?
03:50 Yes. Our commissioner, Norman J. Tancinco, he is the one who organized the programs and this is the first thing we do.
04:01 From November 15 to January 15, we do not entertain or approve/allow the application of the leave of our personnel in our areas.
04:14 We as well deploy our personnel to work in our offices. But during the holiday season, they have a period where they have to render their services
04:29 and they will be helped to speed up the process of our passengers, including just recently, there were new immigration officers.
04:41 Yesterday, around 38 immigration officers graduated from the Philippine Immigration Academy.
04:49 We are also deploying our A-gates. We also have a mobile counter.
04:55 If we see that the counters are not enough, we have a mobile counter where our immigration officers can conduct their process here.
05:10 Deputy, are the BIA personnel not worried because you are not allowing them to leave during the holiday season?
05:20 They are used to it because that is our life. If there are big holidays, long weekends, and we know that many travel,
05:35 that is why during this time, our commissioner is giving us a warning that we should be deployed and we have many personnel who are ready to serve.
05:45 We ensure the public that we have a program that can help us to speed up the process.
05:54 Sir, is registration in the e-travel system still mandatory for international travelers?
06:03 And who are the exempted in e-travel?
06:07 Yes. E-travel is mandatory. Arrival and departure.
06:13 In our arrival, all of them should have e-travel. They should register 72 hours before the actual time of arrival.
06:24 And for the departure, usually for now, the Filipino, but later on all the passengers will be encouraging that as well.
06:34 Because it provides us information on how we can manage the deployment of people because we have advance information on the number and number of passengers in different terminals.
06:47 Deputy Pan, if the passenger is a foreigner, they don't know that they need to travel, what assistance are we doing for them?
07:02 Yes, our airlines have coordination to notify them in advance.
07:08 We have an agreement with the airlines that their staff, their ground personnel, could somehow be able to extend assistance.
07:20 In the same manner, we are providing and we're going to procure additional queues for departure.
07:27 We can see that there are people who are not techy, not used to register through their mobile phone.
07:35 We have assistance that we are extending to them and that's what we're doing.
07:40 Deputy, you mentioned that you are adding more queues and I'm assuming that we have more in our airports.
07:49 What if they don't have access to the internet or their smartphones? How can we service them?
07:57 Yes, the fused world is connected to the internet. That's the reason why we have personnel in coordination with the airlines to help them register.
08:12 Basically, if they cannot do it, there are instances that we allow using the paper-based but however, as much as possible,
08:23 through the assistance of our personnel and the airlines, they can register.
08:29 How about the senior citizens? Even if they have a signal, sometimes they don't know how to answer online or on their cellphones.
08:42 What if they don't have a cellphone? That's very rare though. What if they are not that techy?
08:51 Yes, we have a deployed iPad like Cusk, open for everyone. Usually, those who cannot connect are using it because they are not techy.
09:07 That's why I'm saying that our airlines and our personnel are assisting so that when it comes to our counter,
09:14 they can see that they are registered because once a passenger has a passport, their registration will appear on our screen.
09:23 That's why we can see if they registered or not.
09:27 Okay. Sir, aside from the additional personnel, what are the steps of the BI to speed up the process of documents of international and local travelers?
09:41 Yes. By 2024, we are targeting 25 percent of our process is e-gates. That's why it's very important that we have to embrace technology.
09:54 We are very grateful to the Congress that gave us a budget to procure e-gates. We are targeting from 2024, 2025 to 2026,
10:07 we are able to deploy more e-gates because we can speed up the process of our passengers.
10:16 At the same manner, we should understand as time goes by, there are more passengers and no one can add another personnel.
10:29 That's the problem actually of every agency, the lack of personnel. But this technology will really help our pipeline.
10:38 That's why by 2024, we are targeting 25 percent of our process in our airport is using e-gates.
10:47 Deputy Melvin, we have another question. BI Commissioner Norman Tensingco again reminded that it is prohibited to greet the immigration employees with Merry Christmas to the passengers.
11:00 Deputy, what is the detail here?
11:05 We are discouraging our officers who came, but basically, there's a chance that if they were the first to greet, you have to...
11:18 but we should also look at it because our countrymen have a culture. But as much as possible, we discourage them from greeting our passengers.
11:30 Maybe it's because of the understanding of others, the connotation, they are asking for Christmas. But basically, we have to understand our culture as much as possible.
11:42 We should not greet during the process. However, there are instances where we are the first to greet, then you have to reply.
11:54 That's why we are weighing it. But as much as possible, we discourage our personnel.
12:00 That's right, Deputy. I was going to ask, what if you were the first to greet, you just have to look at it.
12:05 But it's true, we should just greet. Or we should just reply, Merry Christmas.
12:12 Yes. Alright. It's really hard to do that. You just have to look at it.
12:19 Okay. So we have a question from our media partner, Andrea Tagines of ABS-CBN News.
12:28 Her question is, were the BI's operations affected by the electrical maintenance works or power outage at Naia Terminal 3 this morning?
12:37 I haven't received any information yet. But basically, we have to understand our systems because they are connected.
12:46 The source of power is provided by our authority in MIAA. I haven't received yet any information but I'll check with that if there is any.
12:58 But basically, there is not much report that came out. Maybe it's continuous because when there are outages, we should be well-informed so we can prepare for our immigration.
13:10 Okay. How can we ensure that our passengers are safe? I understand that this is also a jurisdiction of the Naia Security.
13:24 But of course, our countrymen still think about the possibility of losing their belongings.
13:33 Is it not the same at the airport? Or at Manacawan? Let's be direct.
13:38 Yes. Here. It's our authority with the airport. But basically, we have to understand.
13:45 These days, there are a lot of passengers and a lot of people there. There are times that we cannot avoid that someone is obstructing.
13:54 Especially in Terminal 3, which is open. It's not like Terminal 1 where you cannot enter without a passenger.
14:02 But in Terminal 3, it's open. Anyone can enter the terminal. That's why we are reminding our countrymen, our passengers,
14:12 to take care of their belongings because there are a lot of people. We ensure on the part of immigration, we have designated immigration personnel who are looking,
14:26 who are assisting and conducting. Our area has CCTV and we can easily verify, backtrack, who is getting the passengers.
14:36 But I can only speak on the immigration area because that's our concern.
14:41 All right. This is for those who are excited about Balikbayan box. To our Balikbayan, what are the prohibitions?
14:51 Sometimes, they confiscate. They are forced to do so. They are forced to work hard and they are confiscated.
14:57 What are the prohibitions and what should be checked in so that you will not be confiscated? And what is allowed in hand-carry?
15:05 Yes. This is your question for the Bureau of Customs because they are the concern in the Bureau of Customs regarding cargo.
15:14 We are only concerned with the document, the pre-represented. Basically, we know that we should coordinate with our Bureau of Customs.
15:24 There are prohibitions there. I just know that the money we brought should not exceed $10,000 and it should be declared as well.
15:35 All right. We are extending our interview, sir. Maybe you have tips or messages for our passengers to make their travel experience faster and pleasant this year.
15:51 Yes. We know that in the case of a passenger, you have to be early in the airport. You should be there because if we look at it,
16:03 you will just go to the terminal at the airport, the traffic will be long. The line when we arrive at the check-in counter is also long.
16:13 We are encouraging our passengers to be early. Once you get your boarding pass at the check-in, you should go to the immigration counter
16:23 to process and wait in our boarding areas. At least, there's a chance that if you are already there for the final call, you will not be chased because there are instances
16:36 where the airplane left you because they haven't been processed yet and the line is long.
16:43 What they did was they left first after their check-in. That's why we are encouraging them to go straight to our boarding areas.
16:52 Deputy, I have one more question. I have a question from a concerned citizen. How are our immigration officers?
17:00 Are they still strict with outbound passengers when it comes to their requirements when going out?
17:09 Yes. Our immigration is more strict in implementing rules and regulations. The IRA is very specific in its provision to implement strict departure policy.
17:26 Just recently, we have repatriated 27 Filipinos. Of the 12, we saw that they left through the backdoor, through the buwanga, they didn't go through the immigration inspection.
17:43 Of the 14, they pretended to be tourists, including their family, friends and one of them is a government employee.
17:53 The other one is OFW, but they ended up working in Cambodia and they were victims of human trafficking.
18:01 They were beaten and forced to work. It's a good thing that the police of Cambodia responded to them and coordinated with our Department of Foreign Affairs
18:12 and they arrived in our country on December 8 this year.
18:18 So usually, incidents like that happen through the backdoor?
18:24 We saw that it's not only through the backdoor. Because of the 14 and 15, because one is OFW and the other is OEC, they are in the airport.
18:36 That's the reason why we are strict. They know what they will do. They will pretend to be tourists.
18:44 So as a response to the directive of our implementing rules and regulations against human trafficking, we are really sorry.
18:56 We are just looking at it. For previous months, we have seen that many of our countrymen are repatriated by our government and were victims.
19:06 They were beaten, forced to work, forced to work, not paid. They were betrayed by our government because they know that when they left,
19:17 their presentation is only about being tourists, but their biggest problem is forced to work and they were recruited through social media.
19:26 All right. If there's no problem and everything should go as planned, how many minutes will the immigration BI allot?
19:37 Basically, in our processing, that is 45 seconds. Swipe the passport. If we see that there are no inconsistencies,
19:47 his declaration, if the immigration officer sees it, there's no problem. It just doesn't reach, usually the unallowed amount, it doesn't reach 1 percent.
19:57 It's only 0.6 percent. But we know that there are still people who are pretending and like what we see, the trafficking is real.
20:11 All right. Thank you very much for your time Deputy Spokesperson Melvin Mabulac of the Bureau of Immigration.
20:19 Thank you very much. Long live.