SEPT 14, 2015

NR # 3957

133 solons oppose 2016 proposed budget provision transferring

BI express lane collections to National Treasury
Some 133 lawmakers have signed a resolution calling on the House Committee on Appropriations
to delete a special provision in the proposed 2016 National Expenditure Program transferring all Bureau
of Immigration collections from express lane fees and charges to the National Treasury, which, the solons
warned, will result in the removal of about 30 percent of BI personnel whose salaries are funded by these
fees, and will paralyze the agency.
House Resolution 2356, principally authored by Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan
de Oro City), urges the appropriations committee chaired by Rep. Isidro T. Ungab (3 rd District, Davao
City) to scrap the special provision as it will result in the instant removal of 30 percent of the BI
workforce upon the effectivity of the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or on January 1, 2016.
Rodriguez, a former BI Commissioner, said that under the present system, collections from the
agencys express lane fees, which are deposited in the Special Trust Fund, is the only source of money to
pay the salaries of confidential agents and overtime services of all BI personnel.
If such collections will be deposited in the National Treasury as income of the General Fund,
which is proposed in the 2016 National Expenditure Program, 30 percent of the BI workforce will be
instantly removed or separated upon the effectivity of the 2016 GAA or on January 1, 2016, leaving the
BI with only 1,473 permanent or regular employees and this will eventually result in a shortage of more
than 2,500 personnel, said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said of the 1,473 BI regular employees, 1,152 are currently receiving meager monthly
net take-home pay ranging from P6,000 to 16, 500 and are likely to leave the BI, thus reducing the
already small workforce to just 321 employees. Of the remaining 321 employees, 153 of them who have
already rendered 16 to 42 years of government service are expected to avail of optional retirement,
leaving the BI with only 168 regular employees.
With only 168 personnel possibly to remain after the effectivity of the 2016 GAA, the BI cannot
sustain its effective and efficient nationwide operations and undoubtedly, lead to the collapse and
paralysis of one of the countrys agencies performing critical law enforcement and national security
functions, said Rodriguez chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bagsamoro Basic Law.
The resolution calls on the Committee on Appropriations to delete Section 3: Special Provision
(s), Paragraph 2, Article XV, Department of Justice, C. Bureau of Immigration of the 2016 NEP and allow
the continuance of the present system by which collections made by the BI from express lane fees and
charges are deposited in the Express Lane Trust System.
Said Section 3 provides:
Fees and charges collected by the BI from express lane charges shall be deposited with the
National Treasury as income of the General Fund in accordance with Section 44, Chapter 5, Book VI of
E.O. No. 292.
Failure to comply with the above requirement shall render any disbursement from said income
void, and shall subject the erring officials and employees to disciplinary actions pursuant to Section 43,

Chapter 5, and Section 80, Chapter 6, Book VI of E.O. No. 292, and to appropriate criminal action under
existing penal laws.
The BI shall submit to the DBM, the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate
Committee on Finance, either in printed form or by way of electronic document, quarterly reports on the
collection of said income. The Commissioner of BI and the Bureaus web administrator or his/her
equivalent shall be responsible for ensuring that said quarterly reports are likewise posted on the BI
website.
In 1988, former BI Commissioner now Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago devised and instituted the
BI Express Lane Fee/Charge to be collected from other persons served based on Section 7-A of
Commonwealth Act 613, as amended, otherwise known as the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.
All collections derived from express lane fees and charges are deposited in the Special Trust Fund
in accordance with Section 2.2.3 of Joint Circular No. 1-97 of the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) and the Department of Finance (DOF).
The BI Express Lane Program, the fundamental objectives of which were to address the lack of
personnel and to curb the graft and corrupt practices in the delivery of immigration services, was
approved and ruled as legal by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commission on Audit (COA) and
the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).
The resolution cited that with the present daily volume of BI transactions at its Main Office, two
Satellite Offices, two Extension Offices, three one-Stop-Shops, six Border Crossing Stations, 11 District
Offices, and 34 Field Offices, and the millions of international passengers being processed on a 24/7
operations basis in three major international airports, nine minor international airports, one international
seaport and numerous seaports all over the country, the BI essentially needs at least 4,000 personnel as
against the existing 2,085 total number of personnel, consisting of 1,473 presidential appointees, coterminus and permanent or regular, and 612 contractual, confidential agents and job order.
In order to continue providing the required efficient service which is compromised by the lack of
personnel due to the wide gap between the actual number of personnel from the ideal requirements, all BI
personnel, including contractual, confidential agents and job order employees, performing vital and
essential work assignments, are required to render overtime services by actually working 10.5 hours per
day or 52.5 hours weekly, it said.
Despite lacking more than 2,000 required personnel, the resolution said the BI attained and
continues to attain, and at times surpassed, its work and revenue collection targets set by the DBM
through the hiring of confidential agents, multiple tasking, and rendering of longer duty hours during
Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and even on turbulent weathers, flood and other calamities, at no extra cost
to the government. (30) rbb