| BI posts P2-B income in 2009 |
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01 January 2010 Marking the year 2009 with another big bang, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced today that it posted an income of more that two billion pesos for 2009. BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan disclosed that as of December 23, the bureau’s take stood at P2.019 billion. “We have made history again as statistics from our finance and management division showed that we have reached the P2-B collection,” Libanan said, adding that the agency is set to surpassed the 2008 collection of P2.111B. Libanan revealed that bulk of the 2009 collection was made from the bureau’s main office, noting that there were substantial increases in the collections from other BI field offices and subports as foreigners choose to update their immigration status in cities or provinces where they stay. P1.292B were collected in the main office while subports raked in P683 million. It was in 2009 when Libanan instituted the establishment of immigration area offices (IAOs) and satellite offices throughout the country, as part of the bureau’s decentralization program. Libanan added that 2009 is another banner year for the bureau not only in helping the national government financed its various projects and programs but also in improving its services to the general public. He said 2009 saw the birth of the special visa for employment generation (SVEG) where foreigners can stay in the country indefinitely provided that they employ at least 10 Filipino workers. Records showed that the bureau collected a total of P2,019,928,690 as of December 23, 5.14 percent or P98M more than the target collection of P1.921B. Elvira Presado, chief of the finance and management division, said she is confident that the bureau will exceed its 2008 actual collection by several million of pesos after collection reports from field offices and subports in the provinces come in. Presado said that her office has yet to receive collection reports from the main office during the last working days of 2009, thus, she is expecting a total income of P2.114B for 2009. She added that the bureau’s yearly take has steadily increased since 2002, thus making the bureau one of the top revenue generating agencies of government. “The bureau posted an income of P1.07 billion in 2002, P1.9 billion in 2003, P1.109 billion in 2004, P1.27 billion in 2005, and P1.468 billion in 2006, P1.747B in 2007,” Presado said, in her report to Libanan. Presado said the bureau’s take was highest in January last year when it collected more than P216M and also in January when it collected a total of P187M. Income records also showed that the bureau collected almost P44M from the fees paid by foreigners who were issued their Alien Certification Rregistration (ACR) I-Cards. (BI News) |
