BI officers ordered to help identify OFWs for mass testing

Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at NAIA are now ordered to help identify arriving Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) for mass testing and mandatory quarantine.

This directive aligns with the Inter-Agency Task Force's (IATF) recent pronouncement requiring all arriving OFWs to undergo mass rapid testing at the airport before being transferred to temporary shelters.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente stated that immigration officers are trained to detect misdeclared statuses to prevent individuals from avoiding quarantine.

A one-stop shop for arriving OFWs has been established at NAIA, where BI officers will conduct redundancy checks to ensure OFWs have been inspected by the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) after disembarking.

Passengers without a quarantine registration form indicating they have been tested for COVID-19 symptoms by BOQ personnel will be referred back to the BOQ.

After BI processing, OFWs will be escorted by the appropriate government agency to buses for transport to their designated quarantine destinations.

As of Sunday, approximately 50 special flights carrying OFWs, predominantly seafarers, have arrived since the enhanced community quarantine was implemented.

The majority of repatriated passengers originated from Italy, Spain, and the United States.