The Bureau of Immigration said that international arrival and departure in our airports was smooth sailing during the Christmas season.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement that although a handful of flights were added, the volume of passengers remained manageable during Christmas Eve and Christmas day itself.

Since the arrival cap of inbound travelers remained at 4,000 due to the Omicron variant, the BI did not expect a significant rise in the number of travelers, it said.

“Nevertheless, our manpower is in full force during the holiday season to ensure speedy processing in case there is a rise in the number of arriving and departing passengers,” Morente added.

BI Port Operations Division Chief Atty. Carlos Capulong meanwhile reiterated that frontliners were temporarily barred from filing vacation leaves during the holiday season until mid-January.

A rapid response team is also on stand-by if more workforce is needed, Capulong added.

The BI said in 2020, they recorded only more than 152,000 arrivals for the month of December, a huge decrease from pre-pandemic figures of 1.7 million in the same month.

Capulong added: “Earlier this month, we have recorded that 85% of arriving passengers are Filipinos, many of which are OFWs and balikbayan coming home for the holidays.”

“Despite the lower number of travelers, we remain on duty to ensure that arrival and departure formalities are performed efficiently for the traveling public,” he added.