Through House Bill (HB) 1069, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) Modernization Act, the government will receive an influx of revenue which can be used to fund ayuda (financial aid) programs amid the rising prices of fuel and basic goods, says 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan.
Libanan, who previously served as BI Commissioner from 2007 until his resignation in July 2010, says that he reintroduced the bill in the 19th Congress as a means to bolster the purse of the national government.
Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/07/solon-envisions-modernized-investor-and-tourist-friendly-bi/
“There’s no question that the BI can easily raise between P10-billion to P12-billion in annual revenues, possibly more,” Libanan said in a statement on Sunday, July 10.
“Before the pandemic, the BI already managed to produce P9.3-billion in revenues in 2019, up 32 percent from the P7.03-billion it collected in 2018,” he continued.
Under the bill, the BI would be allowed to keep, at most, P1.2-billion of its annual revenue to invest in development within the agency, while the rest would go to the national treasury. As per the 2022 General Appropriations Act, the BI was allocated P1.59 billion for the year.
Libanan then expounded that the bill would support employees of the BI, as well.
“The BI has been severely understaffed for years due to low pay. In fact, of the bureau’s 2,772 authorized permanent positions, around 27 percent or 745 positions, remain vacant up to now simply because there are no takers,” Libanan said.
He added that through the bill, employees designated as Immigration Officer 1, 2, 3, and Senior Immigration Officer would have their salary grade (SG) pushed up from SGs 11 (P27,000), 13 (P31,320), 16 (P39,672), and 19 (P51,357), respectively, to SGs 13, 15 (P36,319), 18 (P46,725), and 20 (P57,347), respectively.
“An immigration officer’s starting pay is only P27,000 per month at SG 11. This is two notches lower than a police patrolman’s entry-level pay of P31,320 at SG 13,” he said.
A similar bill was filed in the 18th Congress through HB 8850. Though it was approved by the House on its third reading, it fell short after the Senate received it last August 2021.
Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/24/congress-lauded-for-prioritizing-bureau-of-immigration-modernization/