Binay to BOC: Extra fee for travelers would burden OFWs

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President and presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers Jejomar Binay urged the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to reconsider its plan to charge departing airline passengers an additional fee, saying it would pose an added burden on OFWs.

The BOC plans to charge departing passengers an additional $1 to $2 to cover the overtime pay of its employees, according to a proposed memorandum of understanding with the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), BOC and other concerned agencies.

“If your plan indeed covers OFWs, then I urge you to seriously reconsider” since OFWs make up a large number of departing airline passengers, Binay said in his letter to BOC Commissioner Angelito Alvarez.

Although the Vice President agrees with the BOC that overtime work should be compensated, he said there are other ways for the agency to address the issue without passing the cost on to OFWs.    

Citing Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) records, he said an average of 3,897 OFWs leave the country daily.

Binay added that it is government policy not to burden OFWs with additional expen­ses when transacting with government offices, and such a policy in enshrined in several laws. 

He said OFWs are exempted by Section 22 of Republic Act 10022, a law amending the Migrant Workers Act (RA 8042), from paying certain taxes, such as documentary stamp tax and travel tax.

The law states that “all laws to the contrary notwithstanding, the migrant workers shall be exempt from the payment of travel tax and airport fee upon proper showing of proof of entitlement by the POEA.”

Binay also cited Section 36 of RA 8042 and Section 4 of the Omnibus Rules and Regulations of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act provides that there would be no increase in fees.

Section 36 of RA 8042 says “all fees being charged by any government office on migrant workers shall remain at their present levels and the repatriation bond shall be abolished.”

Section 4 of the Omnibus Rules, meanwhile, provides that “all fees for services being charged by any government agency on migrant workers prevailing at the time of the effectivity of this rule shall not be increased. All other services rendered by the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) and other government agencies in connection with the recruitment and placement of and assistance to migrant workers shall be rendered free. The administrative cost thereof shall not be borne by the worker.”