House approves conversion of Bureau of Immigration to Commission of Immigration

August 3, 2017

The House subcommittee on immigration, naturalization and deportation chaired by Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella of Camarines Sur this week approved a substitute bill seeking to convert the Bureau of Immigration (BI) into a Commission on Immigration to make it more responsive to needs and challenges of the times, a statement by the Lower House said Thursday.

The unnumbered bill titled “The Philippine Immigration and Homeland Security Act” substituted House Bills 162, 327, 435, 1305 and 1697 authored by Reps. Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of Quezon City, Xavier Jesus Romualdo of  Camiguin, Evelina Escudero of Sorsogon, Leopoldo Bataoil of Pangasinan and Maximo Rodriguez, Jr.of  Cagayan de Oro City), respectively.

Bataoil said despite several amendments and reorganizations made on the BI, there is still an urgent need to amend or revise Commonwealth Act No. 613, otherwise known as “The Philippine Immigration Act of 1940”.

Bataoil said the present BI was created through the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 (Commonwealth Act No. 613).

It became an attached agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and when martial law was declared in 1972, the Bureau of Immigration was renamed Commission on Immigration and Deportation.

The agency reverted to its original name the Bureau of Immigration in 1987 by virtue of Executive Order No. 292 signed by President Corazon Aquino.

Belmonte said globalization has brought about mass human migration and ushered in the birth of international criminal syndicates engaged in human trafficking, drug trafficking and terrorism. The impact of globalization on immigration can be felt in the economy as evidenced by the influx of foreigners coming to the country for business, pleasure or employment. DMS