BI set to launch more tech innovations to ease travel

THE BUREAU of Immigration (BI) on Monday vowed to launch more technological advances to ease travel.

“Our main focus now is really modernization," BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said in a statement.

Although he did not yet specify the new technologies to be launched in the coming months, Tansingco said these would help improve the country's borders situation.

"Technologies really help us provide more efficient and effective border management,” he said.

Tansingco made the remark following the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) citation of one of the BI's executives for the success of the e-travel system.

The DOT awarded BI Technical Assistant for Border Control Operations Jose Dennis Javier, who also served as the chairperson of the eTravel Sub-Technical Working Group.

A plaque of recognition was given to Javier during the 2022 Philippine Tourism Industry Performance and Tourism Satellite Accounts' dissemination forum on July 5.

According to the BI, the e-travel system, an inter-agency project, gave way to the reduction of paper-based requirements of travelers.

"It is a joint project of the agency with the DOT, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC)," it said.

The BI said this is a similar system used in advanced countries with a single data collection platform for both incoming and outbound travelers.

Earlier, the BI said that through immigration's modernization, less intervention shall be expected from personnel, which means reducing the possibility of corruption.

It also underscored the need to secure the passage of a new law to fully optimize digitization in all its transactions and services. (Stephanie Sevillano)