Travel agents: Airlines should not pay for BOC workers’ OT

An association of travel agency operators is opposing the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) plan to charge airlines the overtime pay of airport personnel.

In a statement Thursday, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) said the draft Customs Administrative Order (CAO) on customs service fees “contradicts the basic principles of labor laws.”

Section 3 of the draft CAO, which forms part of the implement rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, proposed that customs services “shall not be less than eight hours work per day for five days a week exclusive of lunch time” or from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the PTAA noted.

Section 4 of the draft CAO also sought a P30,000 aircraft supervision fee that the BOC can charge from airlines or their agents “for every aircraft engaged in foreign commerce that landed and departed from an international airport of entry and where customs services are rendered.”

PTAA said the services included: tagging of estimated time of arrival (ETA) and actual time of arrival (ATA), issuance of entrance and clearance permits, conducting of boarding formalities, supervision of the loading and unloading of cargoes, underguarding of cargoes and aircrafts, clearance of passengers and baggage, storage and release of held baggage.

“Overtime pay for customs officials must be shouldered by the government and not the airlines,” PTAA president Marlene Jante said.

“If the BOC wants to implement an overtime system instead of the 24/7 shifting schedule that was specified under CAO 7-2011, then airlines under any circumstances should not be ordered to provide service fees, dues, and other charges,” Jante added.

The old Department of Transportation and Communications in 2012 removed overtime fees and implemented a 24/7, three-shift system at all international airports, which provided for a night-differential pay for personnel on duty from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“There is no government in the world that orders international airlines to pay for overtime work of customs officials at airports,” according to Jante, citing that “airline responsibility starts when passengers and cargoes are boarded and ends when they are disembarked.”