Palace extends effectivity of guidelines on express lane funds for BI pay hike

Palace extends use of express lane fees for BI personnel’s pay hike

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang extended the effectivity of the guidelines allowing the use of Bureau of Immigration (BI) express lane fees and charges to augment the salaries of its personnel.

In the absence of a law to increase the pay of BI personnel, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, by the authority of President Rodrigo Duterte, issued Memorandum Order 39 on Sept. 27, adopting the guidelines for the augmentation pay of BI personnel under MO 24, which was issued on June 2018.

Palace allows use of express lane fees and other charges collected by the Bureau of Immigration for the pay hike of the its personnel until Dec. 31, 2019. @inquirerdotnet pic.twitter.com/JeWkjDvQ9o

— Darryl John Esguerra (@DJEsguerraINQ) October 1, 2019

In issuing the new MO, Malacañang cited the “need for an interim measure to augment the salaries of BI employees, in recognition of the indispensability for their functions, the apparent disparity between the basic pay of BI employees and those of agencies performing comparable functions, and to promote the continuous and unhampered delivery of basic government services.”

Guidelines set by the MO 24 will be followed by the Department of Justice and the Department of Budget and Management in enforcing BI Special Provision No. 1, “Immigration Fees and Collections,” under Republic Act No. 10964 or the General Appropriations Act of 2019,regarding the use of express lane fees and charges to augment the salaries of BI personnel.

READ: Use of express lane funds OKd for BI pay
Under the guidelines, express lane fees collected by the BI will be deposited to a special trust fund account in a government bank to be called Express Lane Fund.

MO 39 takes effect from Jan. 1, 2019 until Dec. 31, 2019, or until the passage of the Immigration Modernization Law, which upgrades the current compensation system of the BI. /gsg