MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has suggested that officials and personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) be charged for neglect of duty, after allegedly allowing airlines to operate without paying administrative fines (AF). Numbers provided by COA said the uncollected fines were totaled from 2013 up to 2018. COA speculates that questions on the legality of the memorandum may be the reason why airlines have not settled their obligations. Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines tops all the airlines with unsettled fines at P34.0 million, followed by Cebu Pacific (P33.4 million), China Southern Airlines (P20.0 million), Cathay Pacific (P19.5 million), Emirates (P18.0 million), and Malaysia Airlines (P11.5 million). Aside from charging the officials concerned, COA also recommended that the BI create guidelines for its offices to effectively collect AFs.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 14, 2019 06:45 UTC