Manila, Philippines
Canadian John Michael Pio Roda, the controversial promoter of international star Chris Brown was granted temporary liberty today after the Bureau of Immigration decided to approve the petition for bail submitted by his lawyer.
Roda has been under Immigration custody after a Filipino firm, Maligaya Development Corporation, filed a complaint against him for allegedly defrauding them US$ 1 million. Roda is also held for working without the appropriate working visa and is also accused of being an undesirable alien.
Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Elaine Tan says Roda’s counsel, Atty. Raymond Fortun, requested for the promoter’s bail last July 24. The BI approved the bail petition last August 11 shortly after Fortun posted a 50,000 peso cash bond for and on behalf of Roda.
Consequently, BI has placed Pio Roda’s name in the Hold Departure List and has maintained custody of his Canadian passport.
As a condition on his release, Pio Roda is required to appear to the BI’s Intelligence Division every first Monday and third Monday of the month.
BI TO ISSUE NEW ACR I-CARD DESIGNS
BEGINNING THURSDAY
Manila, Philippines---The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will issue ACR I-Cards with the new, color-coded design shall be issued beginning Thursday, July 16, 2015.
The new design, with specific colors designated for particular visa types, shall be microchip-embedded, and with added security features to protect against fraud.
Pursuant to Operations Order No. SBM-2015-017, the new ACR I-Cards will be issued in ten different colors to represent the various visa categories issued by the BI, i.e.,
Visa Category
|
Assigned Color
|
Permanent Resident
|
Light Yellow
|
Native Born
|
Bronze
|
Special Non-Immigrant
|
Dark Purple
|
Worker
|
Blue
|
Probationary Resident
|
Light Purple
|
Voluntary Registrant
|
Red
|
Tourist
|
White
|
Student
|
Aqua Blue
|
Treaty Trader
|
Gray
|
Gratis
|
Green
|
BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison said that the new design intends to facilitate immigration processing, both at the airports and the BI offices. The color codes will help identify various types of visas even from afar. All information encoded in the cards will likewise be accessible at the airports (initially at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport) through the updated Border Control Information System (BCIS).
With the new design, visa holders need not bring along the documents to support the issuance of the ACR I-Cards because all information shall be encoded in the microchip. The design will also state additional, key information such as the name of the school (for student visa), the name of the company (for work visa), and the Special Security Registration Number (SSRN)—a unique number assigned to every registered foreign national.
BUREAU BEEFS UP IMMIGRATION SERVICE AT NAIA3
“Better waiting periods after plan
implementation”
Manila, Philippines, July 3, 2015---Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson Elaine Tan says that they will implement a new deployment plan at the airport counters to avoid a repeat of the horrendous long queues which happened at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 3 (NAIA3) last Thursday morning.
Effective July 1, the Bureau implemented a new personnel deployment scheme in NAIA 3 with 7 shifts instead of the usual 3 shifts based on the expected volume of passengers. While July 1 was a transition period, all passengers were timely cleared and none missed their flights due to long immigration lines.
With the new plan, expect a better waiting period at the counters, assures Tan.
Tan admitted that the bureau failed to anticipate the unusual spike in tourist departures that day. Reports show that the long queue began at around 5 am when only eight Immigration Officers were left to process a total of 1,767 passengers for 11 flights.
“More and more tourists are coming in and out of our country. For us at the bureau of Immigration, this adds to the challenge. In spite of our numbers, we will ensure a more efficient deployment of our people so that we are responsive to the increasing demands at the counters. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this incident may have caused to the travelers. We request for your kind understanding and consideration,” said Tan.
Bureau chief Siegfred Mison have called on the terminal head and the duty supervisor for their explanation as to why they failed to manage the queue.
“We are still getting all the facts from terminal head Chem Siguan and the duty supervisor. We apologize for this temporary inconvenience AND firmly commit to the public that such events, if inexcusable, will not happen again considering that we are MAXIMIZING the number of immigration inspectors during peak hours,” Mison adds.
Due to the limited number of immigration officers, those assigned at the arrival counters are directed to augment the workforce at the departure area whenever possible. “However, due to the heavy passenger density at the arrival area, the scheme was not possible,” added Tan.
Despite the limited resources, BI promised the public that the same incident will not happen again. The BI has formulated a new schedule to maximize its workforce during peak hours, by adjusting the duty shifts to seven instead of the existing four shifts, with overlaps between shifts.
BI likewise reminded the traveling public to be at the airport at least three hours before their estimated departure time, and must be cleared at the immigration inspection at least 45 minutes before boarding time.
“Our immigration officers call out passengers whose flights are about to depart, so it is best to approach the immigration duty supervisor if we know that we are about to be late,” advised Tan.”
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