LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered airline companies to stop from incorporating the cost of travel tax and terminal fees in tickets issued to overseas Filipino workers.
Under Presidential Decree 1183 and R.A. 8042, OFWs are exempted from paying travel tax and terminal fees but airline companies continue to include these additional costs to the detriment of millions of OFWs.
Bello said in his letter to Director General Jim Sydiongco of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines: “It has come to my attention that the travel tax and terminal fees are being included in the cost of the airline tickets issued to our OFWs.
“While some OFWs were refunded of these fees at the airport prior to their departure, most of them, however, were not refunded because of lack of awareness about this privilege or lack of time to process their claim for refund.”
Bello also requested the CAAP to remit the travel tax and terminal fees which were not refunded to the OFWs to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment.
“Considering that the inclusion of these travel tax and terminal fees in the cost of tickets has been a practice of airline companies for several years, we request that the travel tax and fees collected from our OFWs which were not refunded to them be remitted to the OWWA,” said Bello.
The Labor Secretary also directed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and OWWA to coordinate with CAAP and MIAA on the immediate implementation of a mechanism for the automatic exemption of OFWs in paying travel tax and terminal fees.
The Labor department furnished a copy of the letter to Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation, General Manager Eddie V. Monreal of the Manila International Aurport Authority, and Atty . Guiller B. Asido of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
The labor chief also requested the CAAP to make the necessary representation to concerned government offices in various airport terminals to cease and desist from collecting tax and terminal fees from OFWs.
Aside from the said government offices, all airlines operating in the country were also provided with the letter.