Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd on Friday sought an immediate accounting of the “illegal” collection of travel tax and terminal fee from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for the last three years. We will also ask the CAAP to account to us how much has been remitted to them by the airlines, and then ask them to remit this amount immediately to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration because OWWA is the trustee of the OFWs,” Bello told reporters. Bello threatened legal action against the airline companies to compel them to immediately stop the collection of travel tax and terminal fee from the OFWs as they do not have legal basis to do so. “The continuous collection of travel tax and terminal fee from the OFWs is not correct because the law exempting them took effect three years ago. Under Presidential Decree 1183 and Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995, as Amended by RA 10022, OFWs are exempted from paying travel tax and terminal fee.

Source: Manila Times March 17, 2017 13:18 UTC