House tourism panel vice chair urges review of travel tax fund use

House tourism committee vice chairman and Palawan Representative Gil Acosta on Saturday called for a congressional review on the utilization of travel taxes collected from Filipinos traveling abroad.

"Definitely," Acosta said in response to a question on the need for a congressional inquiry into how travel tax proceeds were spent during a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday.

"Dapat natin balikan kung tama ba 'yung nagamit. Kung saan nagamit at kung ano ang naging epekto sa tourism industry," Acosta said.

(We should review if the funds were used correctly. Where were they spent and what were the effects in the tourism industry?)

The lawmaker said travel tax collections average P4 billion to P5 billion annually, with proceeds divided among the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the cultural sector.

Acosta said the inquiry should cover both pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods to determine whether travel tax proceeds were properly spent and whether they translated into meaningful improvements for the tourism sector.

He added that the issue also requires closer coordination among government agencies, citing delays and bottlenecks in infrastructure projects.

Acosta also raised the issue of inadequate infrastructure support for his province, Palawan, which has been consistently promoted as a top island destination in the Philippines.

"For example kung kayo pupunta sa aming lalawigan, pupunta kayo ng Puerto Princesa, ang akala ng tao ang El Nido ay 30 minutes away. But it's not. It's almost four hours. Kung mabagal-bagal mga five hours," he said.

The Palawan congressman said several measures are pending before the House Committee on Tourism, including House Bill (HB) 7443 filed by House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro" Marcos, which calls for the immediate abolition of the travel tax.

Under HB 7443, the travel tax imposed under Presidential Decree 1183 and related provisions of the Tourism Act of 2009 would be repealed, ending the collection of charges that now reach P2,700 for first-class passengers and P1,620 for economy travelers.

Marcos earlier said the levy has outlived its purpose and now works against economic recovery, mobility and regional competitiveness. — VDV, GMA Integrated News