BI on heightened alert for ASEAN Summit in November

Immigration officers and agents at ports of entry nationwide have been placed on heightened alert in light of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders’ summit in November and other preparatory meetings currently being held in various areas in the country.

On Thursday, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said he issued the directive to the BI ports operation division in order to prevent the entry of foreign terrorists.

“It is imperative that our men at the ports exercise extra vigilance in monitoring and screening all arriving foreign passengers so that those intending to disrupt the summit are not able to sneak into our country,” he said.

Morente also instructed immigration officers to conduct strict arrival and departure formalities and rigid primary inspection on passengers and crewmen, including those of special and chartered flights.

BI personnel assigned to the border control and intelligence units (BCIU) should also ensure that all passengers pass immigration inspection and assist in the “profiling” of the latter.

"Suspicious looking passengers and those with doubtful purposes in visiting the country should be referred and meticulously subjected to secondary inspection by members of the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU)," the BI said.

Morente said the BI is coordinating with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies of the government and their counterparts abroad in seeing to it that the ASEAN summit, which will be attended by leaders from several countries, is conducted peacefully. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News