BIR hires 12 interpreters as interviewers (The Manila Standard)
AT LEAST 12 Chinese-speaking interpreters were hired by the Bureau of Immigration to interview Chinese tourists who cannot speak English, because 35 percent of the number of foreign tourists denied entry at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals were Chinese nationals, according to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.
The BI chief said the interpreters, recruited as contractual employees, have been assisting immigration officers to interview and pitch questions to Chinese passengers arriving and departing at the Naia.
“By engaging their services, we were able to eliminate the language barrier that for so many years has been a source of misunderstanding and miscommunication between our immigration officers and Chinese travelers,” Morente said.
Immigration officers can now determine and decide if an arriving Chinese tourist should be excluded or denied entry depending on how the latter answers questions about their individual purpose in traveling to the Philippines.

入国管理局はこのほど、英語が話せない中国人旅行者のため、少なくとも12人の中国語通訳を採用した。ニノイアキノ国際空港で入国を拒否される外国人の35%は中国籍という。ハイメ・モレンテ入国管理局長が明らかにした。
同局長によると、通訳は契約社員として雇用、空港入管窓口での担当官の中国人への質問や尋問を迅速化するための手助けをする。
「通訳の雇用でこれまで長期にわたって、担当官と中国人との誤解や意思疎通不足の原因となってきた言葉の障壁を解決できそうだ」と同局長は話している。
入管の担当官は空港に到着した中国人旅行者に対して行う、渡航目的などの質問事項への返答次第で、強制退去または入国拒否などの判断と決定をその場で行うことができる。