Travel woes during peak travel season

As Holy Week comes upon us we all know that Filipinos are looking forward to spending time with loved ones, reflecting, and taking a break from the hustle and bustle of their busy regular work lives. This usually means going to the beach, heading to the province, or flying out of the country for a vacation with family. In the Philippines, other than the Christmas season, this is the busiest time of the year for travel.

Which is why the problems that our Bureau of Immigration (BI) are facing right now couldn’t have come at a worse time. This is the peak season for travel and flights and now we have travel advisories telling passengers to arrive 4-5 hours before their flight to avoid long lines. I already know it’s going to be a very busy and congested Holy Week at the airports for sure.

The trouble began when President Duterte passed the 2017 national budget and, among other changes, vetoed a provision that allowed the use of express lane income to augment the salaries of BI personnel cutting their salaries to half and leaving workers scrambling to find a way to earn money for their monthly expenses.

Prior to this veto BI contractual workers could take home roughly P20,000-P21,000 a month (sometimes more) depending on the amount of time and work they rendered. This was because of a scheme the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago put in place back when she was the BI commissioner. She instituted the express lane at the airport from which the profits would be used as a source of funds to increase a worker’s base pay if they fell in salary grade 1-11 (usually amounting to P6,000 – P13,000). Roughly 80 percent of the employees at the BI fall under this salary grade. The augmentation came in the form of overtime pay and bonuses.

This meant if you worked overtime, you would be compensated for it – often times even more than what you earned regularly. And it worked out until last December. Upon the president’s veto, almost 1,000 BI contractual workers have had to suffer slashed salaries by half with no solution in sight. Admittedly, earning between P6,000-P13,000 a month is not going to cut it for many of these employees especially the ones who have to maintain an apartment in the city or send money home to the province.

As a result, many BI employees have resigned or gone on leave (presumably to look for new jobs). And while we most certainly can’t blame them for looking for a better option that also leaves a huge problem for travelers and extremely long lines at the airport. At this point it’s rock and hard place for everyone.

My daughter and her family recently came from a trip to Japan a few weeks ago and noticed that the immigration lines were far longer than usual. It would have taken them well over two hours to get out of the airport (even though they landed on time) if they hadn’t noticed a line for families with young children. Though they were able to utilize this shorter line, but the fact remains that hundreds of other travelers were stuck in a bottleneck and from what I understand this has not gotten any better.

This week, in particular, is going to be extremely hard. Even while travel advisories have been issued it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. The situation is still bleeding. After all, what good is arriving at the airport 4-5 hours early when check-in counters only open, at earliest, 3 hours before the flight? What will happen is a congestion of passengers in the main entrance long before they even hit immigration.

However, inconveniences at the airport are just part of the problem. At the end of the day there are so many BI contractual employees who are left unsure of their future. While Duterte states that the reason for the veto is that there is no separate substantive law as a legal basis. Because of that the collected fees from the express lane must now be deposited as income to the national treasury. Department of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno claims that overtime that amounts to more than 50% of an employee’s base pay is illegal.

However, BI personnel chief Grifton Medina shared that the problem was that due to outdated laws that have yet to be amended, BI employees are only afforded a very small salary grade. It’s a no win situation. After all, how can a person survive on P6,000 a month? It is only natural for them to look for new jobs and additional work elsewhere. However, with everyone leaving the BI, how will they function properly? You can easily say that these jobs are easily replaceable but in the long run won’t they run into the same problems?

Long-term solutions need to be put in place. This will most likely be a combination of hiring enough manpower so proper shifting can occur, looking back at salaries and making changes as necessary (after all, isn’t the regular employee who this particular administration is supposed to be looking out for?), and automating processes that can be automated. In the end, a solution that is legal is, of course, important but the government should also do it’s best to find a solution that is win/win for everyone involved. And the sooner the better or these travel woes will only continue to get worse.

I hope this matter gets resolved. Obviously that won’t happen in time for Holy Week but it still needs to happen. Here’s hoping that a decent comprise can be achieved.

And as for the rest of us, may we use this special week to get recharged and reconnected. We are staying in town, as we always do, and spending the holidays praying and reflecting and being close to family. I hope you all have a god and meaningful Holy Week and a blessed Easter Sunday.