A P10.7-billion security deal between the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and US-based Securiport LLC could end up being partly funded by overseas Filipino workers heading home on vacation, according to migration and recruitment experts.
The BI plans to recoup the cost of its Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services (CAISS) program through a border fee of P240, or about $4, charged to Filipino travelers. The program would put an integrated border security platform in place across 11 airports and border crossings, which the agency says will tighten border control and bolster national security.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado has argued that the charge is modest by regional standards. Speaking before the House of Representatives during deliberations on the 2027 budget of the Department of Justice and its attached agencies, he cited passenger fees of roughly P2,600 in Australia, P2,400 in Singapore, P1,800 in Thailand, P1,500 in Hong Kong and P1,200 in Japan. Viado also told lawmakers that OFWs would not shoulder the fee because their employers pay for their travel, and he said the Department of Finance and the Office of the Solicitor General are still reviewing the proposal.
Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani disputed that assurance, saying employers typically pay only for a worker’s trip out to the job site, not for flights back to the Philippines.
“I’m referring to those OFWs who return for vacations or renewal of their contracts every year will be the ones most affected by this issue,” Geslani said in a phone interview with the Inquirer.
“They simply give you the return ticket. In fact, sometimes we will give them ticket– but that amount is not included in their contract that they will pay the border fee.”
Geslani pointed to Department of Migrant Workers data showing that rehired workers, or Balik-Manggagawa, numbered more than 1.7 million as of 2025. The category covers OFWs who come home between contracts or on leave and then return to work for the same employer or principal.
Section 53 of the 2016 Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Land-Based Overseas Filipino Workers places recruitment and placement costs on the employer. Loreto Soriano of the Migration and Policy Development Center said that protection would not extend to workers who fly home for personal reasons or while awaiting contract renewal, leaving them to pay the fee out of pocket.
“The question is not simply whether four dollars is cheap. The real question is whether OFWs should be subjected to a new border charge despite the special protections Congress gave them,” Soriano said in a statement.
Soriano also questioned the need for CAISS altogether, saying it would duplicate security screening upgrades at Ninoy Aquino International Airport already being supported by the United States Trade and Development Agency.
