De Lima wants probe on BI's P869-M loss from express lane fees

Opposition Senator Leila de Lima has sought for a legislative inquiry into the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) misinterpretation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s veto on the use of the funds to pay for its employees which resulted to its loss of P869.24 million last year.

In a statement issued on Saturday, de Lima said she filed Senate Resolution No. 839 urging the appropriate Senate committee to inquire into the agency’s apparent failure to collect “express lane” charges from June to December 2017.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier said the BI lost P869.24 million as the agency may have taken part of Duterte's veto message in the General Appropriations Act of 2017 to mean that it had to stop charging the express lane fee of P500 from foreigners. 

The BI stopped its collection of express lane charges in June 2017 in compliance with the veto message.

In 2016, Duterte vetoed the proposed use of express lane charges collected by the BI for the salaries of its casual, contractual, confidential and job-order personnel, which include payment for overtime and health insurance premium.

However, the COA said the veto message only prohibited the allotment of the collections for the payment of salaries of casual and contractual personnel.

“There has to be a level of accountability from the officials who committed this gross misinterpretation of law, less we continue to suffer from imprudence or intentional misfeasance by our public officials tasked with implementing our laws," the senator said.

De Lima said that the BI’s gross misinterpretation of the President’s veto message cost the government a substantial amount in revenues which could have been translated into programs and projects.

The senator also underscored the importance of crafting legislation to ensure accountability for gross misinterpretation of the law by public officials who are tasked to enforce them.

“There is a need to look into the current laws and regulations among our revenue generating offices to ensure that there are sufficient safeguards against losses brought about by misappreciation of laws and similar acts or omissions,” de Lima said.

The senator said the BI collected P568.52 million between January and May 2017, but the COA noted that only P56.85 million of that amount was recognized in the General Fund, contrary to the President's instruction. Meanwhile, the remaining P511.67 million was recorded under the Trust Liabilities account. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News