Bello: Unrefunded terminal fees should go to OWWA

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has asked the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to remit the unrefunded travel tax and terminal fee of OFWs o the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
By law, OFWs are exempted from travel tax and terminal fees, but still have to pay them as they are incorporated in the cost of plane tickets. For this, a refund system is in place, although OFWs often complain about how time-consuming it is.
"While some OFWs are refunded of these travel tax and fees at the airport prior to their departure, most of them, however, are not refunded of the same either because of lack of awareness about this privilege or lack of material time to process their claim for refund at the airport," Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a letter to CAAP Dir. Gen. Capt. Jim Sydionco dated February 21.

"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 travel tax and fees collected from our OFWs which were not refunded to them be remitted/returned to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), an attached agency of the Department tasked to handle the funds for OFWs," he added.

Bello also called on the CAAP to inform airport terminals to stop collecting travel tax and terminal fees from OFWs. He also asked Sydiongco to tell airline companies to stop including travel tax and terminal fees in tickets purchased by or for OFWs.

"We likewise request your good office to make the necessary representation to concerned government office in different airport terminals to cease and desist from collecting travel tax and terminal fees from our travelling OFWs, and for the airline companies to stop incorporating in the cost of their tickets issued to OFWs such travel tax and fees," he said.

Meanwhile, Bello also ordered Undersecretary and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) OIC Dominador Say and OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac to find ways to automatically exempt OFWs from travel tax and terminal fees. —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more