Dear Secretary Tugade

FRIENDS assure me that you are a hard worker. Your integrity is beyond question, they say. I am glad to hear this. Any honest, hardworking man would appreciate the concerns of our overseas workers. Let me raise one particular concern of theirs, through this open letter.

Secretary Art, millions of overseas Filipino workers have always enjoyed an exemption granted under Republic Act No. 8042, which was later amended by Republic Act No. 10022. That exemption pertains to the payment of airport terminal fees now known as the International Passenger Service Charge (IPSC), and the travel tax. For 19 years, the law excluding OFWs from paying these fees was strictly observed.