Two Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) have unveiled a biometric e-gate service at the Ninoy Aquino International Aiport (NAIA) Terminal 3, in ceremonies witnessed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

According to AFAB Administrator and CEO Hussein Pangandaman, conglomerate San Miguel and technology firm iWave, have teamed up to improve the passenger experience at NAIA Terminal 3. Both own companies registered with and located at the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB).

San Miguel/ NNIC President Ramon Ang  and iWave President Ramon Garcia led the launch.

Pangandaman, along with Office of the Administrator Group Head Atty. Percival Peralta and Chief of Staff Bing Kimpo were present at the launch in support of the locators.

New NAIA Infra Corporation (NNIC), a consortium led by San Miguel Holdings; and iWave, which partnered with travel technology company Amadeus, entered into a contract for the phased roll-out of the e-gate system that will incorporate passport scanning and facial recognition.

Pangandaman said that the system will cut down the immigration process to just twenty seconds. NNIC President Ramon Ang and his counterpart at iWave Ramon Garcia were both present at the launch.

“This occasion brings together three parties that are part of the FAB Family: project partners San Miguel and iWave are both locators; while AFAB is an agency under the Office of the President - we just had to be here, to witness and support the unveiling of this e-gate service,” he added.

The e-gate system uses facial recognition and passport scanning technology to reduce immigration processing time to approximately 15 to 20 seconds. iWave collaborated with travel tech provider Amadeus for the phased roll-out of the biometric gates.