House bill seeks travel tax exemptions for students, seniors, OFWs

A recently filed House Bill is proposing travel tax exemptions for Filipino students, senior citizens, and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

House Bill 6979, filed by 1Tahanan Partylist Representative Nathan Oducado, seeks to make travel tax “progressive and fair” by removing the imposed fees on selected Filipino citizens.

“For many of them, the travel tax represents a substantial additional cost that restricts mobility, limits family reunification, and hampers access to overseas opportunities… These realities highlight the need to review and update the current travel tax framework,” Oducado said in the bill’s exploratory note.

He added that the filed bill urged for a “more equitable, sensitive to socioeconomic disparities, and aligned with the principle of progressive taxation.”

“Doing so eases the burden on those least able to afford it while maintaining necessary revenue for national development programs,” he added in his note.

Travel tax is a fee that Filipino travelers must pay before their flight. It is currently set at P2,700 for first-class passengers and P1,620 for economy class passengers.

In November 2025, Senator Erwin Tulfo had also filed a bill to remove the travel tax entirely as he noted that it impeded the public right to travel.

“If we really want to improve the country’s tourism sector and be at par with our neighboring Southeast Asian countries, we have to remove these barriers that disempower Filipinos to travel,” said Tulfo in a statement. —Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/ VAL, GMA Integrated News