Customs men clarify OT pay at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Customs personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport only received checks for their overtime pay and other allowances, not other collections from the overtime fee and allowances for Customs-Immigration-Quarantine NAIA personnel from international airlines, the Bureau of Customs Employees Association said yesterday.

In a statement, BOCEA said these checks are payable to the Collector of Customs “and only Customs overtime fees is payable to the Bureau of Customs, not the total Customs-Immigration-Quarantine fees.

“The Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Quarantine are issued their respective cheques by the BAR (Board of Airline Representatives),” the statement said.

“Customs have no authority to collect the cheques payable to the two government agencies above mentioned.”

The BOCEA said the P200 million for overtime pay due BOC-NAIA was a correct amount that BAR should pay since it stopped giving the overtime pay when it filed a case in 2008.

Nothing was irregular or excessive in the accumulated amount of P200 million, the BOCEA added.

BOCEA said it is not impossible for the overtime pay of airport personnel to reach that amount, considering the number of Customs personnel at NAIA.