JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday revealed he would ask President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent the enactment of the legislation amending the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 to address the problem of the low salaries of immigration employees.
Aguirre said amending the current immigration law would help address the problem of immigration employees in the country and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had agreed to work for the speedy passage of such measure.
“I will ask the President to certify that bill as urgent since this is only a money appropriation. Under the law, it must originate from the House of Representatives before the Senate can take action,” Aguirre said in a interview.
He said Senator Loren Legarda had expressed support for the immediate passage of the new Immigration Act.
“She is very much involved and she assured us that the Senate will pass it in time for the July State of the Nation Address of the President,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre admitted resolving the impasse on the overtime of immigration employees would need some time to be addressed because Diokno insisted on his formula of offering new plantilla positions and to allow employees to avail themselves of the overtime being offered.
Aguirre has met with Diokno and Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente to discuss ways on how to resolve the problem that led to some immigration personnel at the country’s main international airport—Ninoy Aquino International Airport —to file leaves of absence or, worse, look for new jobs.
“The DBM is reiterating their offer that they will open 887 new plantilla (positions) and he (Diokno) wants to persuade the BI to avail themselves of the overtime being offered,” he said.
Diokno earlier questioned the overtime of BI employees, saying some of them amounted to more than 200 percent of their salaries but Aguirre said that was a misconception since the intent when it was conceived was to augment the low pay of the employees.
Diokno has rejected a proposal of Aguirre to temporarily allow the use of funds from airport express lane fees to fund the unpaid overtime pay of BI personnel until an amended immigration law is passed.
Aguirre said Diokno rejected his proposal, saying it would violate Republic Act 10924 or the General Appropriations Act of 2017.
The issue of some BI personnel skipping their work came to the fore after Duterte vetoed a provision in this year’s budget which allowed the use of express lane funds for the overtime pay of immigration employees, saying it has no legal basis and that the charges should be deposited as income in the General Fund with the National Treasury.
The BI charges express lane fees from foreigners to expedite the processing of their permits.