More than 400 officials and employees of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have either been suspended or dismissed from the service for various offenses--mostly corruption--since 2016.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said some were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman.
"I am taking an iron fist stand against all forms of corruption involving our workers," the BI chief said.
He issued the statement when he signed online the anti-corruption manifesto of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), together with some 250 immigration workers.
The signatories vowed and affirmed their commitment ito weed out graft and corruption malpractices, which have hounded the agency for decades.
Morente said the management has initiated various anti-corruption measures since he took the job.
These include the.cutting of "red tape" by reducing the number of steps and signatures on documents sought by the transacting public.
Electronic gates have been set up at international airports to facilitate the exit of arriving Filipino passengers and a periodic revamp of airport personnel was recently begun to stop fraternization, Morente added.