Manila, Philippines - Top executives of foreign and local airlines have expressed gratitude to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) for suspending overtime (OT) payments to Customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) officers at the country’s international airports.
The Board of Airline Representatives (BAR), an association of heads of different foreign and local airlines, thanked Secretary Manuel Roxas II and the Cabinet Economic Cluster for the suspension of overtime pay for these airport personnel.
Under the new policy, the government will fully finance the services of government employees in international airports.
In a letter dated Aug. 10, 2012 to Roxas, BAR cited the government for coming up with “a holistic and integrated solution to this concern which is a step towards improving the business climate for air transport in the Philippines.”
Comprised of representatives from 32 airlines flying in and out of the country, BAR led by chairman Felix Cruz lauded the administration for “its commitment to ensure the efficient delivery of CIQ services through a feedback mechanism between the BAR, the DOTC and the concerned government agencies.”
BAR also expressed appreciation for the implementation of 24/7 CIQ services at airports.
Roxas, in coordination with the Department of Finance and other relevant government offices, directed government agencies performing services in international airports to field sufficient number of personnel in shifts to address their operational requirements to avoid overtime.
BAR had opposed for over a decade the practice requiring airline companies to shoulder the overtime pay of CIQ personnel.
In a statement last March, the BAR called on the government to look into the possible malversation of public funds over the alleged withdrawal of some P2 billion in overtime and other allowances that BAR had paid since the early 1990s.
BAR has complained of being required to shoulder the overtime pay of Customs, immigration and quarantine personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
In a recent statement, BAR said the overtime pay and other allowances airport customs personnel had demanded were unnecessary with the 24-hour, three-shift work schedule laid out during the time of Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez.
A representative of BAR said while the Supreme Court may have declared the overtime pay for airport customs personnel as constitutional, the additional pay was made unnecessary with the three-shift work schedule that the BOC had implemented via a Customs Administrative Order. – With Rudy Santos