The Philippine Border Management Project (PBMP) contributes to the efforts the Government of the Philippines is undertaking to enhance its border management capabilities as to more effectively manage migration.

Border management systems strive to facilitate and regulate the movement of persons and goods between countries. Effective border management also helps to prevent transnational crime and to enhance national security.

In the Philippines, border management functions are compounded by the countrys geographical spread: the Philippines is an archipelagic country with over 7,000 islands and approximately 32 000 km coast line borders.

Since entry into and exit from the Philippines can only be effected by ship or aircraft, border management agencies focus their efforts in monitoring the entry and exit of goods and persons at the countrys international seaports and airports.

Like in many other countries in todays globalized mobile and interconnected world, the Philippines face a number of challenges related to the management of its borders, such as illegal immigration, trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants as well as goods.

The Philippine Border Management Project supports the Government of the Philippines in meeting these challenges through:

• Providing information on and promoting the implementation of effective practices in Border Management,
• Enabling efficient sharing of information among selected agencies involved in border management through a secure IT network,
• Promoting a higher level of identity and travel document integrity and,
• Providing training and education on various aspects of border management.

The activities of the Philippine Border Management Project are carried out in five pilot sites: Cebu, Davao, Laoag, Metro Manila and Zamboanga.

The activities in the framework of the PBMP are carried out in close cooperation with selected Philippine Government Agencies involved in border management, namely

• the Bureau of Immigration (BI),
• the Bureau of Customs (BOC),
• the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
• the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA),
• the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and
• the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC).

>> More info