With slashed OT pay, Immigration workers struggle to make ends meet
The suspension of overtime pay of workers from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has resulted in longer queues at the country’s main international gateway due to more employees skipping work, but the real impact of the policy change can be felt most in the stomachs and pockets of the workers themselves as they struggle to make ends meet.
When President Rodrigo Duterte approved the 2017 national budget last December, he vetoed among other provisions the use of express lane charges for the payment of salaries of casual and contractual Immigration personnel, confidential agents and employees, payment of health premiums, and augmentation of salaries of workers who render services beyond office hours.
“Allowing these agencies to set aside and earmark said proceeds and collections will, in effect, result to double programming and increase our expenditure program without the corresponding revenue sources,” Duterte then said.
“It is important to note that said agency [has] been provided appropriations for overtime pay for FY 2017 and that, a total of seven hundred (700) positions have been created to address the issue on shortage of personnel of the agency. Without a separate substantive law as legal basis, the collected fees from the express lane charges should now be deposited as income of the General Fund,” he added.
It was the late Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, when she was still BI chief, who introduced the express lane service at Naia for a speedy processing of documents. Part of the fees collected from the express lane service was then being used as a fund to augment the take-home salary of Immigration employees.
In the past three months, more and more Immigration workers who have not been receiving their OT pay opted to be absent from work due to insufficient money to sustain their basic needs every day, including food and transportation fare to the airport. An airport worker said their average shift is 10 hours and 30 minutes, without holidays and weekends.
The Immigration Officers Association of the Philippines (IOAP) noted that the use of express lane fees was legal under the Philippine Immigration Act, when it was introduced by the late Santiago as measure to prevent graft and corruption. The workers’ association has written to President Duterte about the matter.
In a phone interview, IOAP President ER Robin told INQUIRER.net that the matter would be discussed in a Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon. He said the group would issue a statement depending on the outcome of the meeting.
Robin said about 2,000 workers were affected by Duterte’s veto. An immigration worker up to salary grade 11 earns an average of P12,000, he added.
“Lagi na ako nagbabaon ngayon kase wala nang panggastos dito sa airport, mas mahal talaga ‘yung bilihin dito. Dati kasi ang budget ko, at least may one hundred pesos akong panggastos, ngayon wala na talaga totally,” said one worker in a contributed video.
(I always pack food for food because I don’t have money to spend here in the airport, things are really more expensive here. My budget in the past, I had at least one hundred pesos to spend, now I totally have nothing.)
One employee shared that, sometimes, he had to walk from home to the airport just to report for work.
“Sana po maunawaan po dahil ang alam ko ‘yung iba nagkakasakit na. Nagkakasakit na sila, ‘yung iba po nasa ICU. ‘Yung iba po alam ko inatake dahil walang pambayad. Pati po sa pagkain nagsheshare-share na lang po kami ng baon namin, minsan hindi makapasok dahil walang pamasahe. Gagawa ka talaga ng paraan makapasok lang,” another worker said.
(I hope they understand us because I know others are getting sick. They’re sick, and others are in the ICU. I know others who’ve had attacks because they don’t have money to pay the doctor. Even with food, we share our packed food, and sometimes we can’t go to work because we have no commute money. We really need to find ways just to get to work.)
An employee who was diagnosed with Stage 3 brain cancer in February 2014 is struggling where to get money for her MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) every three months and maintenance medicine. A fellow worker said he needed to undergo dialysis every two weeks after being diagnosed with kidney disease.
“Just last week inatake ako ng seizure again, all because hindi ko naka-take ng meds ko,” she said. ‘Yung mga gamot, mga maintenance, kaya kung mawala ‘yung OT, siguro wala na. Sana po ay bigyan pa ng linaw.”
(Just last week I had a seizure attack, all because I haven’t taken my meds. If my OT pay is gone, my meds and my maintenance will be gone too. I hope they clarify this.)
An Immigration worker for the past 21 years said she had reached a point where she was clueless how she was going to survive the day, so she resorted to loan and selling her own things. But she was well aware that this can only take her so far. “Sabi ko, hanggang dito na lang ang pera ko, ano ang susunod na hakbangin ko. Hindi ko na alam,” she said.
(I said, this is how far my money can go, what’s my next step. I don’t know anymore.)
“Naubos na rin ‘yung savings sa tatlong buwang walang sweldo. Baon sa utang tapos nagbebenta ng gamit na pwedeng ibenta. ‘Yung sa rent ko hindi ko na mabayaran so pinapaalis na ako ng landlady. Struggle every day for food kasi wala nang natitira doon sa basic. Kahit pangkain, namayat na ng sobra,” another worker added.
(My savings are gone because I haven’t been paid for three months. I’m in debt and I’m selling everything I can sell. I can’t pay my rent so my landlady is kicking me out. I struggle every day for food because I have no money left from my basic spendings. I’m losing weight.)
One employee, a mother of three, shared that she had to resort to a sideline job in a carpooling service during her off hours and go straight to the airport for her Immigration work just to earn extra money. Another worker who was nearing the retirement age expressed worry that she could not settle down yet with meager pay and savings.
“‘Yung kapatid ko, college, and ‘yung kapatid ko pa na isa, special child. Hindi ko na alam kung paano sila susuportahan. ‘Yung medicine ng mother ko every month, ‘yung tuition,” a worker said.
(One of my siblings is a college student, and another one is a special child. I don’t know how to support them. My mother’s medicine every month, and the tuition.)
“Sana po matugunan ito as soon as possible, kasi (I hope they give a solution to this, because) we are not thinking about ourselves. We are thinking about our families,” another added. JE/rga
