The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has managed to raise P5.9 billion last year despite the pandemic.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the total take from immigration fees was 36 percent lower compared to the record high income of P9.3 billion posted in 2019.
“We anticipated our income to decrease due to the pandemic as more foreign nationals are going out of the country than going in resulting in less collection from visa applications,” he stated.
Morente added that transactions in the bureau were suspended for more than two months after the government declared a lockdown in March last year, thus causing the bureau’s revenue collections to nosedive.
Morente, however, said the bureau expects its revenue collection efforts to gradually return to normal this year as the country awaits the arrival of the coronavirus vaccines.
According to BI finance chief Judith Ferrera, the bureau was poised to post another record high income in 2020 if the pandemic did not occur.
Ferrera said the bureau started 2020 on a very positive note as its collections in January and February amounted to P1.8 billion but revenues dropped to P480 million in March with the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.
The bulk of the collection came from visa processing and extension fees, fines and penalties, clearance and certification taxes. (Jun Ramirez)
