NAIA Customs personnel to go on mass leave

[chua_riwap]

Sana maayos na ito. Magpa-Pasko pa, dami Balikbayan.
Masisira na naman ang Pilipinas kay Ganda.....


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/...reporting-work

Customs personnel at NAIA mull not reporting for work


MANILA, Philippines - In a last-ditch effort to compel airline carriers to pay their overtime services, Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will stop work after 5 p.m. on weekdays and will not report for work during Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The customs employees said the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR) has not paid their overtime work for the last 16 months.

BAR First Vice-Chairman and Delta Air country manager Steven Crowdey wrote BOC Commissioner Angelito Alvarez, expressing their concern regarding unverified reports that Customs employees in Naia are planning to go on mass leave, intent on disrupting international flight operations outside the regular hours of work (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) for government employees.

“We have reasons to believe and therefore allege that the intended mass leave is in retaliation for a recent decision of the Court of Appeals favoring BAR on the overtime issue filed by the BOC on its October 26, 2010 promulgation,” Crowdey said.

“If the threatened mass leave results in disruptions of international gateways, the BoC personnel’s actions will directly and adversely affect not only our balikbayan and overseas Filipino workers but also foreign visitors and investors,” Crowdey said.

He added that such scenario will once again put the Philippines in a bad light and will be a setback in the promotion of the tourism industry, a flagship sector of the Aquino Administration.

Crowdey told Alvarez that the threatened mass leave, in light of its obvious purpose, constitutes an illegal strike and BAR will not hesitate to take legal remedies against them, including appropriate civil actions for damage to recover any and all losses resulting from the disruption of the operations of international airports.

Crowdey has urged Alvarez to take appropriate action to prevent the threatened mass leave of the BOC personnel by exercising its power of control and supervision over the officers and personnel assigned at the Naia.

The BAR’s letter was also sent to Collector Tess Roque, head of the Passengers and Customer Relations of the BOC at the Naia.

Earlier, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim had suggested that the BOC adopt a work shift, which is done in all airports with 24-hour operations, to avert confusion and possible backlash from passengers using the Naia.

Air Traffic Controllers, Aviation Security Guards of the National Police, the Naia aircraft operations division, quarantine and immigration, including porterage and other services have adopted the 24-hour shift system for years as a concession to the special nature of their jobs at the airport. This system has also been adopted by all airports rendering 24-hour service.

Lim called on the Department of Finance and the BoC to resolve once and for all who should shoulder the payment for overtime services of Customs workers at Naia. Lim said such delays may further discourage both the airline businesses and investors to do business in the Philippines.

Some sectors have urged the BOC to adopt the tack of the Bureau of Quarantine and Immigration, which had successfully lobbied Congress to pass a law exempting them from the Civil Service Commission’s limitation on overtime services after office hours.

[marg]

Di OK, wag na bumalik mga BWAYA

[Monseratto]

Kala ko bawal maningil ang BOC sa mga airlines ng overtime pay. Typical BLACKMAIL.

http://datelinephilippines.com.ph/in...ines&Itemid=63

CA: Customs personnel at NAIA not entitled to overtime pay, allowances from airlines
Thursday, 20 August 2009 20:08

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) has declared unconstitutional the implementation of an administrative order of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) compelling airlines to pay the overtime pay and other allowances of the agency’s personnel assigned to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which runs into the millions of pesos every month.

[Monseratto]

Di lang iyan ang problema. Walang pagbabago sa galaw ng gobyerno...

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/...ns-due-tax-row

KLM reconsidering RP operations due to tax row
by Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, BusinessWorld
Posted at 10/18/2010 9:33 AM | Updated as of 10/18/2010 12:36 PM


MANILA, Philippines - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the sole carrier that operates long haul flights between Manila and Europe, said it may halt its Philippine operations due to local tax policies.

This comes as the government has continued to slap taxes on outbound passenger and cargo revenues of several foreign airlines whether or not the tickets were sold in the country, the KLM’s regional manager Cees Ursem told BusinessWorld last week.

If so tourism will suffer, as will trade and investment prospects, as travellers to and from Europe will have no choice but to resort to costlier and inconvenient connecting flights, an official of the European business chamber said.

"We are reconsidering our operations to Manila," Mr. Ursem said in a chance interview.

"Tax issues are hurting the airlines dramatically," he added, citing the common carrier tax and gross Philippine billings.

Under the National Internal Revenue Code, international air carriers must pay a common carrier tax of 3% of their gross receipts and a 2.5% tax on all cargo and passenger revenues "originating from the Philippines in an uninterrupted flight irrespective of the place of sale or issue ... of the ticket".

The Philippines is the only country that charges airlines these taxes, Tourism Secretary Alberto A. Lim said at last week’s Philippine Business Conference where he tagged the policy a bottleneck to development.

Lifting the taxes could increase international tourist arrivals by 2.2% and generate economic benefits worth $38-78 million, the International Air Transport Association said in a March report.

KLM has been urging officials to nix the tax. In the meantime it has reduced the seating capacity of its Philippine flights since January, Mr. Ursem said.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG stopped offering its Manila-Frankfurt connection in April 2008 because of lower commercial yields and has reallocated capacity to other Asian gateways.

"We are trying to be in touch with the government. It’s positive," Mr. Ursem said.

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) was more downbeat, claiming that even the new administration has been slow to address the matter.

"[Former] Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said we were barking up the wrong tree and that we had to go through legislation instead. We have the same problem with this administration," ECCP Executive Vice-President Henry J. Schumacher said in a telephone interview last Friday.

"Legislation would be a long route and there has been no indication that [the government] will make [this issue] a priority," Mr. Schumacher said.

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares declined to comment, saying in a text message the issue "needs to be studied."

Rep. Hermilando I. Mandanas (Batangas, 2nd district), chairman of the House of Representatives ways and means committee, said he would be filing a bill to exempt foreign airlines from such taxes.

But with Congress currently on a break and expected to focus on approving the 2011 budget when they next meet, progress will likely be slow, he admitted.

In the meantime, said Mr. Schumacher, there is "frustration all over."

Tourism will only flourish if people can fly here. [Losing KLM] would be big blow as it’s the only airline that flies nonstop to Amsterdam," he said.

[shadow]

sino ba dapat talaga mag bayad ng OT nila? airlines or yun department nila? bakit sa airlines nila gusto magpabayad?

[al shaheen]

Di OK, wag na bumalik mga BWAYA

Agree ako dito, wag na bumalik ang byawa tapos palitan sila ng bago.

[CoDer]

Palitan ng bagong dugo yang mga yan. Kung pwede lang sana na private entity na hawak ng NIA customs, bulok pa rin kasi pag gobyerno mangagaling.

[ydreph962]

tama lang yan, maganda nga pag mass leave nila wag na sila bumalik lahat..sa ibang airports puro mga bata pa ang mga tao nila..mga in their 20's nga lang at magagalang pa..dito puro may mga tahid na kaya ubod ng kakapal ng mga mukha pag naninita at pag nanghihingi ng pamasko..

[Tifosi]

I think they would doing the country a service if they don't come back at all. Walang kaase-asenso sa totoo lang!

[kotiko]

CUSTOMS? Di pa ba siya masaya sa pagkukurakot nila?