House scraps P24-M airport ‘slush fund’

The House appropriations committee scrapped yesterday an airport "slush fund" from which Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials reportedly drew tens of thousands in honoraria.

In the course of hearing the P5.9-billion DOJ budget for 2007, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, committee chairman, brought up the investigation the Senate conducted several years ago on the existence of such a fund. The inquiry was prompted by an exposé made by then Sen. Nikki Coseteng.

The Senate had elicited admissions from BI officials that immigration officers assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other ports of entry during off-duty hours were collecting from P24 to P30 million a year from airlines and shipping companies whose passengers they processed for entry into the country.

BI officials told senators then that the huge amount did not go to the treasury but was collected and kept by the immigration officers’ association, which then paid the officers for the overtime job that they rendered.

They said part of the money went to BI commissioners and DOJ officials in the form of honoraria that ranged from P30,000 to P50,000 a month.

Responding to questions raised by Salceda, Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez said the practice of officers collecting fees and paying themselves still continues, though he claimed he was not sure of the amount collected by his people.

He confirmed that the money does not go to the treasury but to the immigration officers’ association.

He said the fees are collected from airlines and vessels that arrive at the ports at night or early in the morning when immigration officers are off-duty.

Salceda avoided asking Fernandez whether the immigration commissioner shares in the collections but told him and DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez that he found the practice to be irregular and even illegal, and not transparent.

He said fees that government officers collect should go to the National Treasury and that funds for overtime pay should be included in the annual budget and appropriated by Congress.