BI sets major overhaul

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will undergo a major overhaul that will see the reassignment of officers and personnel, especially those who have been staying in their posts for more than five years.

Lawyer Siegfred Mison, BI officer-in-charge, said the overhaul plan came after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima issued Department Order No. 555 last Aug. 8 that reassigned and designated four of the nine heads of the BI’s vital divisions, namely the administrative, management, regulation, registration, intelligence, law and investigation, airport operations, verification and compliance, and board of special inquiry.

“All section chiefs and heads of other units lower than a division shall be designated by the OIC-Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration with prior notice to the secretary,” De Lima said in the order.

Mison said he already signed a memorandum order implementing De Lima’s order and is also set to start a reorganization plan for section chiefs and heads of units or middle level management of the bureau.

“That is a total of 80 to 100 positions,” Mison said.

The BI has a workforce of 2,000 composed of 1,200 organic employees and 800 contractual workers.

After the reorganization of midlevel officers, the BI would turn to the reorganization of the rank and file. A policy of reshuffle every five years is being adopted, Mison said.

“The reorganization is really to promote professional development,” Mison said, noting that hundreds of officers and rank-and-file personnel have been doing the same tasks for more than five years and a change in routine is good for an officer or employee since they learn new things.

“The idea is that they are given a new assignment every five years in a different unit until they learn the operations of all the units of the bureau. That way, they learn everything,” he added.

The reorganization would consider the employees’ preference or desired new assignments.

“The idea is when you are happy with your job, you will not engage in kalokohan (mischievous act),” Mison said.

But the reorganization would also take into account the employees’ track record. Officers who have pending administrative and criminal cases will not be given “sensitive” positions.

Mison is familiar with the “bad eggs” in the agency. The former associate commissioner chaired the bureau’s Board of Discipline prior to his appointment as OIC of the BI.

“There are really just a few bad eggs. We are giving the benefit of the doubt to some of these people who may have just been following orders,” Mison said.

“Those with cases pending against them, we cannot give them sensitive positions where a lot of decision making and discretion is needed, discretion that can be abused,” he added.