Manila: A group is rallying against a controversial move by the Manila International Airport Authority to compel Filipino migrant workers into paying terminal fees.
The Coalition #Noto550 called on millions of Filipino migrant workers worldwide to take a common stand and let their opposition against the government’s move to integrate the airport terminal fee in all air tickets be known.
Starting February 1, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), will be automatically deducting an amount equivalent to P550 (Dh44.82) in the airline tickets of passengers using either of the three terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
This deduction in the plane fares for international passengers will take place despite vehement opposition from overseas Filipino workers who maintained they are exempted from paying such fees to the government by virtue of a 1995 law, Republic Act 10022 or the Amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act.
That particular law, recognises the contribution and sacrifices of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and exempts them from paying charges such as airport terminal fees.
Coalition #Noto550, which claims to be made up of 17 OFW and advocates, said it would continue to call for the government to altogether scrap the fees, which is called International Passenger Service Charge or IPSC.
“Respect the law. That is all we ask,” the OFW groups said in its position paper they presented during a press briefing they held at the CBCP Building in Manila.
The group urged the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and MIAA to hold in abeyance the implementation of the terminal fee “until it can come up with a fair and lawful scheme that would honour the exemption granted to OFWs by law”.
To show solidarity in opposing the terminal fee, the coalition called on OFWs around the world to hold dialogues with embassy officials expressing their opposition to the charges and use social media such as Facebook in their campaign.
They said OFWs and their supporters should indicate their opposition to the terminal fees using #Noto550 as a unifying hashtag.
It also said that OFWs and supporters should “replace their profile photos with a black box on February 1, the date of the IPSC implementation.”
There are an estimated eight million Filipino migrant workers employed overseas at any given time and the money they send to their families in the Philippines has tided the country over from economic crisis several times in the past.
