Court rules terminal fee integration ‘unenforceable’

By: Niña P. Calleja - 10 years ago

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Pasay Regional Trial Court has found the government’s new order integrating the airport terminal fee into the cost of an international airline ticket “unenforceable” mainly due to its lack of publication.

Presiding Judge Tingaraan Guiling of Pasay RTC Branch 109 on Wednesday issued a seven-page resolution on a petition for certiorari with temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction filed by groups of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) against the implementation of the airport authority’s integration plan.

Earlier, Guiling issued a TRO stopping the Manila International Airport (MIAA) Authority from implementing its Memorandum Circular No. 8 for 20 days.

But a day before the TRO expired on Nov. 20, the Pasay court again put up a stumbling block to the plan that aims to get rid of long lines of passengers queuing to pay the P550 international passenger service charge, also known as the terminal fee.

Absence of publication

“The court holds and believes that Memorandum Circular No. 8 needs publication as mandated by law, as well as jurisprudence on the matter. (With the) absence of any publication, the said Memorandum Circular No. 8 is unenforceable,” the resolution read.

Among the respondents in the petition were Transportation Secretary Jose Emilio Abaya and MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado.

With the TRO set to expire on Nov. 20, Honrado expressed plans to push through with the integration if the court decided not to extend the TRO.

Sought his reaction on the latest court decision, Honrado, who heads the agency that supervises all four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), said the MIAA will oblige the court’s order.

Beneficial

“We are saddened by the decision of the Pasay City court on our effort to address a perennial clamor from our departing passengers, a move that will benefit most of them and even those who think otherwise,” Honrado said in a statement.

“However, we shall abide by the decision of the court and leave it to our lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General for whatever move they think is best under the circumstances,” he added.

He did not say if the MIAA would file a motion for reconsideration in the Pasay court.

Under Memorandum Circular No. 8, international airlines operating at the Naia must include the P550 airport terminal fee in the price of a ticket so the MIAA could do away with the long lines of passengers at counters paying the fee before their flight.

Exempted from paying

The circular however resulted in OFWs—who are exempt from paying the terminal fee under the law—now having to pay the fee since it is included in the price of their airline ticket.

They may get a refund of the terminal fee, however, upon presentation of their overseas exemption certificate at the airport, which observers noted would add another line at the terminals.

The court resolution came following a hearing on Monday on a petition for certiorari or review filed by OFW Family Club party-list Rep. Roy Señeres Jr.

At the hearing, the MIAA lawyer defended the memorandum circular, citing the benefits to air passengers it would bring when implemented.

At the hearing, MIAA finance officer Irene Montalbo told the court that while dialogues, consultations and meetings with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Department of Labor and Employment were conducted before the memorandum circular was promulgated on Sept. 15, 2014, it was never published in a newspaper of general circulation.

In his decision, Judge Guiling noted that according to Article 2 of the Civil Code, “Laws must take effect after 15 days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.”

The MIAA has been pushing for the integration scheme, arguing that it is beneficial to passengers who need not to fall in line to pay for the terminal fee.

In 2013, a total of 7,671,643 passengers departed from the Naia terminals and only 1.9 million, or 10 percent of them, were OFWs.