7 Clark airport personnel sacked over travel tax scam

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – Seven employees here have been fired from their jobs after they were implicated in a travel tax scam at the Clark International Airport.

The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) declined to identify the seven, but said three of them worked for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, another three for the Miascor ground handling company, and a janitor under the employ of the McKleene janitorial firm.

Three complainants, according to CIAC information officer Rendy Isip, said they each paid a supposedly discounted travel tax of P1,200 to the group instead of the usual P1,620 tax for international travelers.

“They offered lower travel tax rates but they did not issue receipts. The unsuspecting passengers became aware of this only when they were prevented from boarding their planes for lack of receipts,” Isip said.

Isip said CIAC president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano had been receiving reports of passengers being gypped in such a manner, but it was only on Monday that complainants surfaced to identify the personnel allegedly involved.

“In some cases, the victims rush back to pay their travel tax at the proper counter before hurrying to catch their flight. But in the case of the complainants who identified the erring personnel, they missed their flight, so they had the time to bring their grievances to the CIAC operations department,” he said.

Isip said the seven apparently connived with each other. “They seemed aware that their victims would just again pay their travel tax at the proper counter instead of complaining because they would be in a hurry to catch their flight,” he said.

Luciano warned all Clark airport personnel against “engaging in any illegal activities,” as he vowed to file charges against them.

“We assure our passengers that we will exert all efforts to address their concerns and weed out the erring employees in the process,” he said.