SENATORS Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay welcomed the signing of the memorandum of agreement scrapping the payment of airport terminal fees by overseas Filipino workers and other persons exempted by the law.
The Manila International Airport Authority and representatives from 40 air carriers signed the agreement at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
Under the agreement, OFWs and other exempted persons will not have to pay the P550 International Passenger Service Charge (IPSC), or the P200 Domestic Passenger Service Charge (DPSC) upon face-to-face purchase of tickets here or abroad starting April 30, 2017.
Exemption for online ticket purchase will start on July 31, 2017.
“This is a welcome development, a step in the direction of streamlining the processes our OFWs have to go through at our airports. It has always been my position that the integration of terminal fees in plane tickets doesn’t have to be done in a way that will inconvenience and violate the rights of our OFWs,” Villar said.
Binay, on the other hand, considered it a “welcome relief” to OFWs who have had to trade time which could have been spent with their loved ones to earn a living in other countries.
“This is no joke—the P550 terminal fee ehich is an added burden to our OFWs…This fee should never have been shouldered by them in the first place,” Binay said.
In 2015, Binay said the integration of the IPSC in airline tickets was a disservice to OFWs, prompting her to file in 2015 a Senate resolution which called for an investigation on the issue.
The IPSC integration was moved to Nov. 1, 2014 from Oct. 1, 2014 after the Pasay Regional Trial Court temporarily stopped its collection from OFWs.
The fee was included in airline tickets of the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific on Feb. 1, 2015.
She noted that under the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995, the said fee should be waived upon presenting an overseas employment certificate but OFWs had no choice but to pay for the IPSC as it was already integrated in their plane tickets.
Villar also took note of reports saying some P1.5 billion worth of terminal fees was unclaimed by OFWs and exempted individuals.
“What will now happen to the unrefunded terminal fees? Such funds held in trust cannot be spent in the absence of a clear policy,” she added.
Upon face-to-face purchase of tickets, OFWs must present any one of the following documents to avail themselves of the exemption: overseas employment certificate, photocopy of a valid work visa or permit; employment contract; current employment certificate, or recent pay slip.
OFWs and other exempt passengers can still claim refund of terminal fees until April 29, 2018 at airport refund counters.
After which, refund will be claimed at MIAA.
