Several legislators have sought a congressional inquiry into the Bureau of Quarantine's contract with PisoPay for what they described as an exorbitant P70 convenience fee per issuance of International Certificates of Vaccination (ICVs) for COVID-19 to Filipino travelers or migrant workers.
In House Resolution 2198, at least 32 lawmakers led by Reps. Sharon Garin of AAMBIS OWA, Jesua Suntay of Quezon City, Estrellita Suansing of Nueva Ecija, Francisco Benitez of Negros Occidental, Juan Miguel Arroyo of Pampanga and Michael Gorriceta of Iloilp asked the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation into Bureau of Quarantine's contract with PisoPay for the issuance of ICVs as well as the fees being charged.
The Bureau of Quarantine has been tasked with issuing the international vaccine certification or yellow card as proof of inoculation against COVID-19.
In particular, the lawmakers questioned the need to pay P300 for the certification plus an additional P70 in convenience fee.
"It appears that the Bureau of Quarantine partnered with a FinTech company called PisoPay to receive the payment for the issuance of the ICV, a company incorporated in 2017 with BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) license to act as a remittance agent issued in 2019, and not wholly owned by Filipinos," the lawmakers said.
The lawmakers noted that under Section12 of Republic Act 11525, also known as the COVID-19 Vaccination Program of 2021, the DOH is tasked to issue vaccination cards to all persons inoculated against COVID-19.
To expedite the vaccination process, the DOH was authorized to delegate the issuance and processing of all vaccination cards to local government units and private entities.
"Under the penultimate paragraph of Section 12 of the same law, the issuance, amendment, or replacement of the vaccine card shall be free of charge," the lawmakers said.
They also noted that the delegation of the authority to issue and process vaccination cards to the local governments has resulted in the lack of uniformity in the appearance and contents of the vaccination cards.
"This lack of uniformity in the vaccination cards was reported as the reason for other countries' refusal to recognize vaccine cards from the Philippines as proof of vaccination, thereby adding another obstacle to the return to work of our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)," the resolution stated.
The 32 lawmakers, who authored House Resolution 2198, also cited "a need for more transparency and more government information as to the Bureau of Quarantine's charging for the issuance of the ICV in view of existing laws on the matter."
Under the World Health Organization’s guidelines, for inbound travelers, they can use their ICVs issued by the Bureau of Quarantine as proof of inoculation to reduce the length of their mandatory quarantine stays in hotels prior to their travel to their final destinations.
Overseas Filipino workers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 need to get these ICVs if they want to travel and work abroad because the vaccination cards issued by the local government units (LGUs) of the localities where they have had their jabs are not recognized by other countries.