Immigration bureau mulls transferring head office to Pasay

The Bureau of Immigration is considering transferring its main office from Intramuros, Manila to the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City to accommodate the increasing volume of people transacting in the agency. “Our present space and facilities at the Intramuros office are no longer enough to accommodate our transactions, hence the need for a new building that is conducive to the delivery of fast and efficient service to the public," said Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. in a statement Sunday. David said he has directed his staff to undertake a feasibility study of the relocation project that will necessitate a large amount of funding, which he said has to be appropriated by Congress. He said the building will be constructed on a large vacant lot near the SM Mall of Asia that the BI acquired a few years ago. Associate Commissioner Siegfred Mison, who is spearheading the study, said the proposed building should be designed in conformity with the new immigration law now pending in Congress. He said the proposed bill provides employment of 3,000 immigration employees, compared to its present manpower of only over a thousand personnel. Mison said the bureau’s division and section chiefs were already instructed to submit a list and number of personnel based on the proposed immigration act and a diagram of the workers’ functions and workflow. The idea of having a new BI headquarters had been initiated by former BI commissioner and now Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who initially sought transfer of the bureau’s main office to the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. — KBK, GMA News