Immigration chief insists on wisdom of overtime pay from express lane funds

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente on Tuesday defended the agency's decades-old practice of directly spending its income for the overtime pay and allowances of its personnel.

"The Bureau of Immigration believes in and stands by the wisdom of then-Immigration Commissioner Miriam Defensor Santiago who asserted in February 1988 that employees of the Bureau should be granted honorarium/allowance not coming from the General Appropriations Act," Morente said in a statement.

"For 29 years since then, the honorarium/allowance called 'overtime pay' has served as a much-needed augmentation for the low salary levels of the regular employees of the Bureau," he added.

Morente's position puts him in direct conflict with the policy of President Rodrigo Duterte who vetoed a provision in the 2017 national budget which allowed the use of express lane funds (ELF) for the overtime pay of BI workers, especially the contractuals and job order employees.

The BI charges express lane fees from foreigners to expedite the processing of their permits. 

According to the President, the use of express lane funds to augment the income of BI personnel has no legal basis and that the charges should now be deposited as income to the General Fund.

Morente, however, said the collection of ELF was in line with Section 7-A of the Commonwealth Act 613 or the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.

He also said then-President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada approved on March 8, 1999 the granting of honorarium/allowance for detailed, contractual or all non-organic personnel or consultants to be taken from Express Lane Trust Fund of the BI.

"Permanent/ organic employees already enjoyed this benefit based on CA 613," Morente said.

"These key executive decisions have been instrumental in enabling a more professional and efficient organization through the years. The many innovations that are taking place are made possible because of the competence and dedication of the entire BI team," he added.

Morente also clarified the supposed non-request for payment of regular overtime pay as alleged by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The BI chief said there is a letter request by the immigration officers to hold the processing of the regular overtime pay pending the final resolution of the retention of the OT pay sourced from the ELF.

"BI employees believe that proceeding with the request for payment of the regular OT pay may be construed later as abdication of their appeal to bring back the honorarium/allowance from the ELF," he said.

The government has set aside P224.835 million for the overtime pay of BI workers this year which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said should not go beyond 50 percent of their basic pay.

Morente also called on the DBM to "revisit the historical precedents and reconsider their stand not to retain the granting of honorarium/allowance from the ELF."

"Given the background and rationale behind the creation and retention of the ELF, it is clear that these benefits are properly part of the compensation of the BI employees," Morente said.

"The BI employees, both organic and non-organic, are all affected by the drastic and abrupt implementation of the decision to stop granting the honorarium from ELF," he added.

The proposed solution of granting additional positions to the BI also does not address the problem and will not alleviate the current economic plight of employees, according to Morente.

The BI has been plagued by resignations and work stoppage in an apparent protest to unpaid overtime work, resulting in long lines at immigration counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the days leading to the Holy Week break.

Still, Morente urged the BI officials and employees "to stand together in this quest for what is due and proper."

"We must continue to act with professionalism and prudence, strong and confident in the belief that justice will prevail," Morente said.

"We continue to pray for enlightened thinking and Divine guidance for the quick resolution of the issues at hand," he added. —NB, GMA News