Naglabas ng direktiba si BI Commissioner Jaime Morente sa 155 immigration officers at acting immigration officers na suportahan at pansamantalang punan ang mga trabaho sa Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at Clark International Airport (CIA).
“These back-up officers will serve as augmentation to render primary inspection duties as some of our frontliners are on quarantine and battling Covid-19,” ayon kay Morente.
Binubuo ang augmentation team ng officers at acting immigration officers na nakatalaga sa iba’t ibang back-end offices ng Port Operations Division (POD), maging sa main office at iba pang opisina.
Sa datos hanggang January 20, nakapagtala ang BI ng 158 COVID-positive employees na nakatalaga sa POD, 132 sa nasabing bilang ang naka-assign sa NAIA, habang 14 naman sa CIA.
180 BI officers ang nakasailalim sa quarantine sa NAIA dahil sa pagkakaroon ng exposure sa COVID-positive cases.
“We are keeping our augmentation team on standby to be deployed immediately if the number of officers affected rises further,” ani Morente.
Dagdag nito, “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.”