Business group asks for total abolition of travel tax to BIMP-EAGA

DAVAO CITY – Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) President Arturo Milan called on the government to completely abolish the travel taxes for international travellers from Mindanao who will be going to any destination in Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

“We hope that ultimately the travel tax will be abolished so we can encourage everybody the opportunity to travel and learn in the process,” Milan said on Friday.

He said the business community welcomed the Memorandum Order signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on May 8, which renewed the travel tax exemption policy to travellers departing from all international airports and seaports in Mindanao and Palawan to any destination in BIMP-EAGA.

“We, at the Davao City Chamber of Commerce, welcome the exemption of paying travel tax to the BIMP countries. This will surely encourage tourism and people mobility within the BIMP countries and strengthen our cultural, social and economic relations,” Milan said.

Mindanao Business Council (MBC) chair Vicente Lao said this will boost tourism in BIMP-EAGA area.

The memorandum order cited “the national interest and in order to sustain and accelerate economic development in Mindanao and Palawan” for the renewal of the tax exemption policy and as recommended by the House of Representatives pursuant to House Resolution 78 dated December 6, 2017.

It also added the travel tax exemption will be granted for a period of five years from its date of effectivity. Travellers will have to secure a travel tax exemption certificate from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), it said.

The order tasked the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), in coordination with all relevant government agencies to conduct an impact study on the implementation of the memorandum order and submit an annual report to the Office of the President for the purpose of determining whether the exemption will be continued or revoked.

Romeo Montenegro, director investment promotion and public affairs of Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), explained that the previous similar memorandum circular issued during the Aquino administration expired in October 2017.

Montenegro said the tax exemption covers only the the BIMP-EAGA focus areas – entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Pappua and Papua in Indonesia; states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; and Mindanao and the province of Palawan in the Philippines.