OFW party-list going to SC over terminal fees

MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado. www.miaa.gov.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines—A representative of an overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) party-list will file contempt charges against Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Jose Angel Honrado should he insist on integrating the P550 airport terminal fee in the cost of plane tickets despite a court ruling saying it was “unenforceable.”

The MIAA earlier announced it would implement starting Feb. 1 the Memorandum Order No. 8 which will include the terminal fee or formally known as the International Passenger Service Charge in the cost of the international airline tickets.

But Rep. Roy Señeres of the OFW Family Club Party-list, also the deputy chair of the committee on overseas workers affairs of the House of Representatives, said the committee would back up the filing of charge on Friday, a few days before its scheduled implementation.

“The MIAA memorandum was issued despite an order from the Pasay Regional Trial Court which has ruled that the terminal fee integration is unenforceable. It also comes despite the pending motions which have been filed, including a petition for certiorari which has yet to be resolved by the court,” Señeres said.

Señeres likewise called on President Benigno Aquino III to abrogate the memo order, saying it is a violation of the Sec. 35 the Migrant Workers Act of RA 8042 as amended by RA 10022 which exempts OFWs from the travel tax and the airport terminal fee.

Señeres is among those opposing the integration scheme and the leader of the “No to 550” coalition composed of OFWs, civil society groups and recruitment agencies.

The congressman echoed his suspicion on the possibility of “some surreptitious arrangements for a rebate from the service fees between the airlines and the MIAA and projected earnings from bank interests of the unrefunded funds.

“All at the expense of hard earned money of the OFWs,” Señeres said.

In a text message, Honrado said he has not yet been notified about the charge and would comment on it once he received a copy of it.

Earlier, MIAA officials said no legal impediment was blocking the integration plan since the airport authority had complied with the ruling of the court when it published the copy of memorandum circular on Dec. 12.

In November last year, the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 109 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the MIAA’s memorandum circular based on the petition of the party-list group OFW Family Club.

After the TRO expired, it ruled that the scheme was “unenforceable” due to its lack of publication, citing Article 2 of the Civil Code that states that “laws must take effect after 15 days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.”

Perla Eslao-Dumo, head of the MIAA’s legal division said, no court order is stopping the authority from implementing the order, noting that the Pasay court did not issue an injunction order when the temporary restraining order expired on Nov. 20.

Before the integration, OFWs along with Muslim pilgrims and Filipino athletes are exempted from the long lines to the terminal fee counters. But they can avail of the exemption by showing their exemption certificates.