MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration denied Tuesday what it called persistent reports about the supposed resignations or mass leave of hundreds of its personnel assigned to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport over the non-payment of their overtime pay.
“So far, only 36 immigration officers have resigned since the start of the year and only a few have gone on leave for various reasons,” Immigration commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement.
He added that passenger queues at the airport have returned to normal after the Holy Week rush.
In fact, Morente said a report from the BI’s port operations division showed 95 percent daily attendance by the agency’s airport personnel.
“Despite their financial problems the bulk of our workforce at the NAIA are continuing to persevere and make sacrifices for the sake of the traveling public. I commend them for doing a remarkable job in the face of adversities,” Morente said in the statement.
The BI chief also said he remained confident a satisfactory solution can be found for the need to augment the pay of Immigration personnel, noting that they are barely able to afford their daily meal and transportation needs on their current wages.
He also appealed to Malacanang to certify urgent a bill for a new Philippine immigration law to replace the existing act that dates back to 1940.