E-Gates Now in Cebu and Davao Airports

The electronic gate facility or E-Gate scheme has been launched in airports of Cebu and Davao according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

BI Port Division Chief Grifton Medina said that three E-Gates at the Mactan Cebu International Airport and two E-Gates at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City were already fully operational last week.

He added, however, that the BI has yet to install E-Gates at the airports in Clark and Kalibo.

“We are targeting to make the E-Gates operational in these major ports before the Christmas and New Year, when we expect to process a huge influx of traveling passengers,” said Medina.

Before they were installed, the E-Gates were pilot-tested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) last July.

Improved Processing Time, Better Service

The E-Gates project is designed to help speed up the processing as well as reduce the long traveler queues at the airports.

From an average time of 45 seconds, the standard immigration processing for a traveler was cut down to 8-15 seconds using the E-Gates.

The BI also said that the E-Gates have also provided assistance in detecting people who subjects of blacklists and hold departure orders since they are equipped with modern security features such as facial recognition, biometric scanning, smart card recognition, and bar code reading.

Commissioner Jaime Morente was delighted with this development especially since it came during the Christmas season.

“This project really prioritizes Filipinos, to ensure fast and smooth processing of our kababayans so they have more time to be with their families,” he said.

via SunStar / Keith A. Calayag