THE Immigration bureau breached the P2-billion income mark in 2008, the first time since it joined the group of billion-peso earning agencies and departments six years ago.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the bureau?s income was at an all-time high of P2.085 billion, P373 million or 22 percent higher than the P1.7 billion the agency earned in 2007.

Expecting the figure to increase by several millions of pesos after collection reports from the bureau?s field offices and sub-ports in the provinces come in, Libanan said the take was P587 million or 39 percent more than Immigration?s target of P1.498 billion in 2008.

?It was another record income for the bureau but, more importantly, it marked the first time that our earnings breached the two-billion-peso level since we joined the billionaires club of government agencies in 2002,? Libanan, a former Eastern Samar congressman, said.

Quoting Immigration?s records, Libanan noted that its yearly take has steadily increased since 2002, thus making the bureau one of the top revenue-generating agencies of government.

It posted an income of P1.07 billion in 2002, P1.9 billion in 2003, P1.109 billion in 2004, P1.27 billion in 2005 and P1.468 billion in 2006.

Saying 2008 was a banner year for the bureau not only in terms of revenue collection but also in the matter of improving its services to the transacting public, the Immigration chief said it was in that year the visa-issuance-made simple project was launched. Arlie Calalo