BI opens Las Pinas office to decongest, make services accessible

From Manila Bulletin by Jun Ramirez

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has opened its new field office in Las Pinas City to make its services more accessible to foreigners based in southern Metro Manila.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the new office is part of efforts to decongest transactions at the BI main office in Intramuros and bring the bureau’s services near the doorsteps of its stakeholders and clientele.

He said that with the opening of the new office, foreigners sojourning or doing business in the city and neighboring areas like Muntinlupa and Parañaque need no longer travel to Manila to process their visa and other immigration documents.

“Through the years we have noticed a significant increase of foreigners transacting in our main office. This new field office aims to widen our reach, and at the same time provide convenience to our clients,” Morente said.

The BI Las Piñas field office, along with several other government offices, is part of the Government Service Express (GSE) system located at the ground floor of SM SouthMall.

SM Southmall’s GSE was launched this Monday and was attended by SM and BI’s key officials.

“We are thankful to the management of SM Southmall for providing us space that will help us achieve our goal of providing better and more accessible public service,” said Morente.

He added that the BI will open more offices, including one in the Palayan City Business Hub in Nueva Ecija within the year, and its new main office along the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City by 2020. (Jun Ramirez)