Photo Release

Right to travel vs human trafficking: Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III reminds officials of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) to balance the rights of Filipinos to travel and the duties of the government to solve the problem of human trafficking and illegal recruitment. “I know we need to balance this system (E-Gate) with our desire to provide our fellow Filipinos with less hassle in going out of the country with our concern with human trafficking and illegal recruitment,” Pimentel said. During Tuesday’s plenary debate on November 14, 2023 on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies, Pimentel asked about the information and communication technology (ICT) project of the BID worth P2.67 billion which includes the implementation of E-Gate project that aims to improve the processing of international passengers and reduce the long queue at the airport’s immigration area. The BID’s E-Gates are equipped with modern security features such as facial recognition, biometric scanning, bar code reading and smart card recognition, all rolled into one system to detect travelers with derogative records. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)