President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, December 5, ordered airport authorities to make airport transactions faster for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
In Duterte’s speech during at the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the 2018 Model OFW Family of the Year Awards ceremony in Malacañang, the president called for faster airport transactions for OFWs adding that Filipino migrant workers are among the administration’s top priorities.
“No more human contact. You just swipe your… two minutes, i-swipe mo lang ‘yung visa mo , you’re out. Wala nang tanong-tanong, no more human contact and that will be true and I’m ordering it now. You have to make it faster,” Duterte said
The president also ordered for the “tanim bala” scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to be stopped.
“I made my stand very clear that I won’t allow… ihinto nila ‘yang kalokohan nila, kabastusan nila na bala, tanim bala,” Duterte said.
“I don’t allow rampant corruption, I don’t allow the opening of bags in the airport, lalo na ‘yung mahihirap… ako naman kasi’y isang anak lang din ng mahirap,” he added.
New e-gates installed
In November, five new electronic immigration gates (e-gates) were installed at NAIA Terminal 1.
Immigration Port Operations Division chief, Grifton Medina, said that the e-gates will speed up immigration processes to 12-15 seconds. With the e-gates, passengers will be required to swipe their passports, and undergo biometrics and facial capturing.
The first batch of e-gates were installed at NAIA in July. Since then, the number of e-gates installed in major airports in the country have risen to 21.
Five e-gates each were installed in NAIA Terminals 1 and 3, three in NAIA Terminal 2, three each in Cebu and Clark, and two in Davao.
