THE mass resignation of immigration personnel at the airport because of unpaid overtime could compromise national security, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Monday.
Aguirre said 32 immigration personnel have already resigned, and 50 others have filed a leave of absence for six months to look for other jobs.
The lack of Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has led to long lines at immigration counters for arriving and departing passengers alike. Passengers now have to stand in line for an hour before reaching the counter.
The 2017 national budget has stopped the practice of using funds collected from express lane charges to cover the salaries of casual and contractual personnel as well as overtime and health insurance.
Under the budget, funds collected from use of express lanes will now be remitted to the National Treasury.
Before the President issued the order last December, Aguirre said those manning the immigration lanes were getting as much as P48,000 a month in overtime pay.
Aguirre, who oversees the Bureau of Immigration as Justice secretary, said he had been pushing for palliative measures to cushion the effect of the order, with the help of Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr.
He noted that BI employees with Salary Grade 1 to 11 are receiving only P14,000 a month.
Aguirre said he and Evasco will appeal to President Duterte to bring back the previous set-up for the express lanes until the new immigration law is approved.
He said he tried to convince Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to approve the temporary arrangement, but he declined.
Aguirre said he even issued a legal opinion that the funds may be taken from airlines and shipping firms under the Philippine Immigration Act, which says Immigration employees may be assigned to do overtime work at rates fixed by the commissioner, when the service rendered is to be paid by shipping companies and airlines or other persons served.
The Budget Department, however, expressed legal reservations about the Justice Department’s position.
“This [problem] will also affect our economy in general. That’s why we need to find an immediate solution,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said that although the DBM had allotted P200 million to pay for the extra work rendered by the immigration officers, the amount would only allow a maximum of P5,000 in overtime pay of each immigration employee.
NAIA Immigration Port Operations Division chief Red Mariñas said his office has received information from the bureau’s headquarters in Manila that more personnel have filed requests to secure a certificate of employment intended for job applications.
He said some of the regular employees who resigned from their posts were lawyers.
An immigration officer 1, Mariñas said, has a salary grade 11 with a basic pay of P16,000 a month, which works out to P13,000 after deductions, and if the employee has no loans.
In February, an average of 20 immigration personnel at Naia went on official leave for financial reasons.
There are also 900 contractual workers who have stopped receiving salaries and overtime pay since January this year, while overtime pay for some 1,600 organic personnel was also stopped.
Diokno said since the 2017 budget has specific funding for ovetime pay of BI employees, there is no need to tap the express lane funds.
But Mariñas said the manpower shortage could hurt their operations, especially this coming peak season.
In an interview with GMA-7, Diokno said the old overtime pay system was illegal.
“Under the law, your overtime pay cannot go over 50 percent of your regular pay,” Diokno said in Filipino. “They were getting five times their regular pay. That’s the issue here.”