MANILA — The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), an attached agency of the Department of Tourism tasked with managing the travel tax, is asking the Senate for an extension before the government abolishes the travel tax.
Senate President Win Gatchalian earlier announced that they plan to abolish travel tax before the end of the year, a measure already passed by the House of Representatives.
Senate eyes abolishing travel tax this year
During Monday’s budget hearing, TIEZA Chief Operating Officer Mark Lapid said the agency needs an “extension period” to help ease the impact of removing the tax on the tourism industry.
“We don’t object with any of the notion of the abolishment but as of now with the current fiscal situation, medyo mahihirapan ang ahensya namin, not only us, but also the tourism industry when it comes to infrastructure support,” Lapid told the lawmakers.
“We humbly seek na requesting na baka pwedeng magkaroon muna po ng extension habang wala pong pera na pang-replace dun sa travel tax,” he added.
TIEZA said around 95 percent of its operations would be deeply affected by the removal of the travel tax, particularly because the Department of Budget and Management allocated zero funding for the agency under the National Expenditure Program despite the pending abolition of the tax.
“As early as March we already submitted our proposed budget to DBM since there’s already a pending abolition of travel tax but in June we received a letter stating that they gave us zero budget allocation,” Lapid said.
He added that among the operations that would be affected are infrastructure projects aimed at rehabilitating airports, water systems, comfort rooms, lounges, and other facilities in tourist destinations.
Meanwhile, Senator Erwin Tulfo who chaired the budget hearing vowed to help address the agency’s concerns during the plenary deliberations and questioned the absence of the DBM secretary at the budget hearing.
“That’s the reason why I invited DBM, hindi na sumipot,” the lawmaker said.
“Anong problema? Is it binabastos nila itong komite na ito, itong subcommittee na ito? I want to find out. And I want you to do that tonight to call the Secretary himself,” Tulfo added.
TIEZA is requesting an additional P1.3 billion in funding for 2027.