The Bureau of Immigration (BI) attributed the escape of high-profile fugitives like former Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and lawyer Harry Roque to a severe understaffing, including a fugitive search unit of only 16 personnel and inadequate coverage of backdoor routes like Tawi-Tawi.

During Monday’s joint Senate hearing on BI modernization bills, Commissioner Joel Viado admitted that Philippine immigration personnel were not on a par with those of other countries, even smaller ones.

The BI currently has just 1,818 officers, including less than 100 intelligence personnel and only 16 Fugitive Search Unit agents handling operations nationwide.

“In reality, immigration officers are assigned not only to the different ports, but to different immigration offices as well. We have instances where we lack manpower, wherein the alien-control officers are forced to be intelligence officers on the side,” Viado told the senators.

The numbers, he said, are alarmingly low for a bureau that is the first line of defense against foreign individuals who may post a threat to the country, and are a far cry from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with 5,000 and 3,000 officers, respectively, despite their not being a country.

By comparison, Australia has 7,500 immigration officers, plus border control personnel, totaling 15,000, while Japan employs 6,700 immigration officers — highlighting the significant gap with the Philippines.