Terminal fee integration: ‘Thinking out loud’

Susan V. Ople

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'The OFW sector is not against the integration of the terminal fee, it is only against the abject failure to honor the exemptions granted by law to our OFWs'
“When your legs don’t work like they used to before, and I can’t sweep you off of your feet. Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love? Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?” – Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran

This is the kind of senti love song that makes tears run down an OFW’s cheek as he or she lay down to sleep.

Distance makes the heart doubt more, and this is true not only between lovers but also between the overseas worker and government.

That painful decision to pack up and leave for a more uncertain life in exchange for the promise of financial security leaves an OFW straddling two worlds, two cultures. At the very least, the Filipino migrant worker hopes that the world where he came from, his very own homeland, would understand, support, and recognize his decision, done out of true love for the family. (READ: Airlines to include airport terminal fee in prices)

RESISTANCE. Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Jose Angel Honrado says he will not endorse the proposed suspension of terminal fee integration in the Manila airport. File photo by Rappler

For many OFWs, government only sees them when there is money to be had. Unfair and non-transparent public policies lead to questions about the authenticity of government’s concern for their plight. Government does not always sing the sweetest love songs to our OFWs. And when they do, it often is out of tune. (READ: MIAA manager rejects suspension of terminal fee integration

Take the case of MIAA.

Last February 1, the Manila International Airport Authority implemented the International Passenger Service Charge or IPSC, which refers to the integration of terminal fees in Manila-outbound air tickets.

Its noble intent is to decongest the NAIA airport terminals by doing away with the terminal fee counter, thus allowing passengers to proceed directly to immigration booths after getting their boarding passes from the airlines.

However, in pursuing this objective, there was an incidental collateral damage: our OFWs’ right to avail themselves of the exemption from the fees, as stipulated by the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995 and its amendatory law, Republic Act No. 10022.

Two sets of OFWs

MIAA’s Memorandum Circular Number 08, series of 2014, effectively divides OFWs into two sets. The first set pertains to “new-hires” or OFWs who leave the country for the first time. These OFWs are able to show to the airlines and travel agencies in the country their Overseas Employment Certificates (OECs) from the POEA as proof of their exemption status. As such, their outbound tickets will not include the P550 terminal fee.

It is the second set of OFWs – those who buy tickets online or overseas – that is directly affected by the IPSC scheme as designed by MIAA. Based on POEA’s data, this group includes around 1 million overseas workers. This number represents the “re-hires” or OFWs whose contracts are renewed by their foreign employers. A foreign employer is obligated to pay for the “re-hired” worker’s roundtrip ticket. However, that same employer is not obligated to pay for the worker’s airport terminal fee. This second set of OFWs also includes workers who need to come home for a vacation or emergency leave. Whether as a re-hire or as a vacationing worker, the roundtrip tickets are often bought online or overseas.

Note that the OFW sector is not against the integration of the terminal fee for ordinary passengers. It is only against the abject failure on the part of MIAA to honor the exemptions granted by law to our OFWs. (READ: Terminal fee integration for passengers’ sake – Abaya

Refund counters

According to MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, OFWs who buy tickets online or abroad will not be able to show proof of entitlement to obtain the exemption because: 1) for online purchases, the system is automated; 2) airlines and travel agencies operating outside the country are not aware of and therefore would not recognize the POEA-issued OEC.

To “cure” that defect, the MIAA, acting with the approval of its board of directors chaired by the secretary of transportation and communications, devised a refund scheme.

This refund scheme is now being questioned by a coalition of OFW groups, including the Blas F. Ople Policy Center which I head, before the regional trial court of Pasay City.

While OFWs are forced to pay the terminal fee and line up for refunds, MIAA offered to pay airline companies a service charge amounting to 3.5% of collections from passengers by the planeload, meaning those who physically boarded the Manila outbound flights.

Under the MIAA circular, the airline companies can automatically deduct their service fees prior to remitting the terminal fee collections to MIAA. In effect, even when MIAA refunds the P550 to the overseas workers, it doesn’t matter to the airlines. After all, the 3.5% service fee is based on the number of passengers that boarded the flight, notwithstanding the amount of refunds MIAA shells out. Suwerte ng airlines, kawawa ang OFWs.

Questions raised 

Due to lack of consultations, many of our workers overseas do not even know that they are paying terminal fees since not all airlines and travel agencies provide a breakdown of fees actually paid. It is also a matter of public record that both MIAA and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) failed to seek the help of our embassies and consulates in holding public hearings about the IPSC prior to implementation.

But for those who follow this issue, including the member-organizations of the #Noto550 Coalition, MIAA and the DOTC must clarify the following issues:

• Where will all the non-refunded terminal fees go? According to Shine Mirana, an OFW who recently claimed her refund while on vacation, other OFWs on the same flight bound for Saudi Arabia could no longer wait to line up to claim their refund. They also had a difficult time locating the refund counter at NAIA Terminal 1. Shine paid for her own ticket, which she bought from a travel agency in Saudi Arabia.

“Malalaman mo lang na may refund ka pag andoon ka na sa waiting area. Sa baba kasi pipila pa. Tapos akyat ka ulit hanapin mo ‘yung counter ng refund, tapos baba ulit para pumila ulit para makapasok na sa waiting area papuntang airplane. Malaking abala po,” Shine said.

(You will only know there’s a refund when you’re in the waiting area. Downstairs you’ll have to line up. And then you will have to go upstairs again, look for the counter for a refund, then go down stairs again so you can line up again to get into the waiting area on the way to the airplane. It’s a big hassle.) 

So where will all the non-refunded amounts eventually end up? Memorandum Circular Number 08 issued by MIAA does not specify where. It doesn’t say either for how long OFWs can claim their refunds. In fact, no one could give us the name of “that fund” where all these non-refunded fees will be held.

• Why shift the burden to our OFWs? Our OFWs now suffer the indignity of lining up to claim a refund for a fee that they shouldn’t have paid in the first place. The refund itself is proof that the OFW’s right to an exemption has been violated.

MIAA signed an agreement with the airlines on July 2, 2014, on the terminal fee integration. The airport authority informed various OFW groups about the IPSC in July 8, 2014, in a dialogue convened by the POEA.

During that dialogue, non-governmental organizations warned MIAA executives that losing the exemption is an emotional issue for OFWs.That exemption has been around for 19 years, we said. We also reminded MIAA that the law was passed by lawmakers in response to the tragic execution of OFW Flor Contemplacion in Singapore in 1995.

MIAA countered that the IPSC was an emotional issue for them too. Ay, oo nga. Kawawa naman mga boss ng MIAA. ‘Teh, as in emotional talaga? (Ah, that’s right. Poor MIAA bosses, they are emotional about this.)

• Does President Aquino know what MIAA is up to? During a Senate hearing on this issue, MIAA’s Honrado said he would stop the implementation of MC 08 when ordered by someone “na nakakataas sa akin” (higher authority). 

Was he referring to President Benigno Aquino III? If he was, then did he brief the President about the repercussions of said memorandum on the OFW sector? Did MIAA and the DOTC also inform the President about the position taken by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that the Migrant Workers’ Act must be respected?

Twenty senators have filed a resolution strongly urging the MIAA and its board of directors to withdraw MC 08 until IT experts, various stakeholders, and agencies like DOLE, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the POEA can cooperate with MIAA and the airlines in designing a better way to integrate the terminal fees.

Despite this resolution, the board of directors of MIAA decided to continue with the current IPSC. Dinedma ang Senado.

Love begets love. The opposite is also true.

“When my hair’s all gone and my memory fades, and the crowds don’t remember my name. When my hands don’t play the strings the same way, I know you will still love me the same.” – “Thinking Out Loud”, Ed Sheeran

Sigh. Rappler.com  

Writer and OFW advocate, Susan Ople was a recipient of the Trafficking in Persons Hero Award from the US State Department in 2014. She has a weekly column in Panorama MagazineTempo, and Arab News. Her non-profit organization, the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, assists distressed OFWs all over the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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