A rapid response team composed of 155 immigration officers and acting immigration officers is on standby to augment airport operations in the cities of Pasay and Parañaque and the province of Pampanga, as the Bureau of Immigration (BI) continues to see a surge in coronavirus infections among personnel.
Commissioner Jaime Morente issued the directive for these officers to provide support and temporarily render duties at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Clark International Airport (CRK).
“These back-up officers will serve as augmentation to render primary inspection duties as some of our front-liners are on quarantine and battling Covid-19,” he said in a statement Friday.
The augmentation team is assigned in different back-end offices of its Port Operations Division (POD) as well as its main office and other offices in the metro.
As of Thursday, the BI recorded a total of 158 infected employees assigned at the POD, 132 of whom are assigned at the NAIA, while 14 are assigned in CRK.
Meanwhile, a total of 180 immigration officers at the NAIA are under quarantine for being exposed to Covid-19 positive cases.
“We are keeping our augmentation team on standby to be deployed immediately if the number of officers affected rises further,” the BI chief added.
Morente said their office provides swabbing through their Medical and Dental Section for its employees, as well as Covid-19 vaccines, booster shots, and pneumococcal vaccines.
“We have a Covid Task Force in charge of crafting proactive measures to fight this virus, as well as ensure that protocols are strictly implemented,” he added. (PNA)
Source: Philippines News Agency
