BI to use bar codes for documents

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will soon be able to use bar codes for its documentation system.

The Office of the Ombudsman is set to donate P500,000 worth of bar coding equipment, specifically bar code printers and bar code readers, to the BI as part of the agency’s anti-corruption campaign, Commissioner Ronaldo Geron said recently.

He explained that the Ombudsman’s donation to the BI would be taken from the amount given by the World Bank (WB) to help finance its anti-corruption projects.

“I want to install technological interventions. To have a doable tracking system,” Geron said, adding that they may start implementing the bar code system in March.

The application of barcodes on documents is part of the Integrity Management Program (IMP) of the Office of the President.

Geron said that starting today, a team from the IMP will be at the BI to coach immigration personnel on the use of the bar code system. The coaching will run for a year. 

The BI chief earlier said that the bar code might be used for “crucial documents” such as the Alien Certificate of Registration and paperwork in its legal division.

He believes that with this system, they would be able to keep track of the flow and whereabouts of the documents being processed at the BI. They would also be able to pinpoint accountability in case there is a delay in the release of a document.

At the moment, the BI is only able to locate the whereabouts of the documents via its logbook, but Geron said that if a logbook catches fire, they would no longer know the document’s history.