THREE new electronic gate (e-gate) machines at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) are expected to cut the processing time of arriving Filipino travelers.
Nelson Gallentes, chief of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at MCIA, said at least three Electronic Gates (e-gate) machines were installed at the Terminal 2 that would address the long queues of arriving passengers because it would provide speedy processing of these passengers.
“This will shorten the processing time to clear passengers at the immigration counters,” said Gallentes in Cebuano.
Instead of the usual immigration counter procedure, Gallentes said travelers would only need to scan their passports to the e-gate machine and walk through its special gate for facial recognition and have their fingerprint scanned.
“Ang iyang features kay halos parehas ra sa usual. Duna siyay facial recognition, fingerprint scan, maka-compare ni siya sa data nga naa sa atong database,” he said.
Gallentes said the usual 20-minute manual immigration checking would be shortened into at least 8 to 15 seconds with the help of the new system.
Gallentes also said the new equipment could only accommodate Filipino passengers with their Philippine passports registered since 2016.
As for foreigners, Gallentes said they would have to undergo the usual manual checking to the counter by immigration officers.