BI fund to cover OFWs’ missed flights – lawmaker

Departing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) no longer need to worry about missing their flights – at least as far as airfare is concerned – as the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will shoulder it if the delay was caused by “prolonged immigration checks,” a lawmaker said yesterday.

Rep. Luis Jose Angel Campos Jr., vice chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, said they have provided in the 2024 General Appropriations Act a “special provision” for the travel expenses of overseas-bound Filipino passengers who miss their flights.

“The travel expenses incurred by Filipino passengers who were deferred or denied boarding without a court order shall be charged from the balance of the BI’s special trust fund account of accrued collections of express lane fees and charges,” Campos said.

Being left behind by their scheduled flight due to “prolonged secondary inspection by immigration officers” is not the OFWs’ fault, according to the congressman of Makati’s District 2.

Campos’ wife is Makati Mayor Abigail Binay.

“The special provision strikes a balance between the right of every Filipino to travel and the BI’s obligation to enforce immigration laws,” Campos said.

He added that the committee is waiting for the guidelines to be issued by the BI, the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission on Audit with respect to the implementation of the special provision.

Sen. Francis Escudero had pushed for the reimbursement of the travel expenses of Filipino passengers who were offloaded from their flights due to the lengthy interrogation by immigration officers “in the guise of fighting human trafficking.”

Citing BI records, Escudero said 32,404 Filipino passengers were not allowed to proceed with their flights in 2022 alone and “only 472 of them were found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment.”

In the past, Filipino passengers who missed their flights on account of extended immigration secondary interviews had also vented their frustration on social media.

President Marcos, in his budget message agreeing to the “conditional implementation” of the special provision, said that “this should not render nugatory the mandate of the Bl to administer and enforce immigration laws.”

At present, express lane fees and charges collected by the BI are deposited in a special trust fund account with a government bank to be used exclusively for the following purposes: 64 percent to augment the salaries of the BI’s organic personnel working beyond regular office hours, 25 percent for the salaries of the BI’s contractual personnel, and the remaining 11 percent remitted to the National Treasury as income of the general fund.