Funds to reimburse offloaded passengers to come from BI excess income — senator

MANILA, Philippines — Funds that will be used to refund passengers who will miss their flight or become offloaded due to long immigration assessments will be taken from the Bureau of Immigrations’ excess income and not from deductions of employees’ salary, Sen. Chiz Escudero said on Monday.

In a statement, Escudero said that the final version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) 2024 states that the reimbursement fund will be sourced from the bureau's excess and unutilized income, which is returned to the national treasury every year. 

The senator said that reimbursement of travel expenses and damages for offloaded passengers will not be charged against the bureau’s employees.

"I will look closely into this to ensure that the intent and mandate of Congress regarding this is followed to the letter,” the senator added. 

Escudero said that his proposal targets the use of at most 10% of the BI's earnings from collections every year. If the president does not veto the provision in the GAB, the reimbursement scheme will be part of next year’s spending plan.

"I didn't touch the overtime pay of our immigration officers or other expenses for fixing their equipment. In essence, instead of returning it to the Treasury, let's give it to those offloaded without sufficient basis," he said in Filipino.

Latest BI data show that of the more than 32,000 passengers barred from traveling last year, only 472 were found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment.

Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano previously expressed concern over the proposal to reimburse offloaded passengers, saying that this might make immigration officials hesitate to offload passengers who may turn out to be actual human trafficking victims.

The reimbursement scheme could also be abused by “unscrupulous passengers,” Clavano said.

The president is set to sign the proposed 2024 budget this week.  — Cristina Chi