COTABATO CITY— The Philippine Airlines (PAL) on March 7 remitted to the Bangsamoro Treasury Office (BTO) of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management (MFBM) its first Domestic Service Passenger Service Charge (DPSC) amounting to a total of Php928,935.00.
Also known as the passenger terminal fee of P150.00, the DPSC is levied on tickets purchased for flights departing from the region’s airports and being collected by respective air carriers.
“We, in the Philippine Airlines, are turning over this amount from the two tranches of remittance from January 1 to 31 of this year,” said PAL Sales Manager Delfin Tubera, Jr.
“We are keeping our commitment as a partner of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in bringing progress by supporting and providing airport transport service,” he added, noting that airline company has been working in partnership with the region for almost four decades now.
PAL awarded the cheque to Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) Minister Paisalin Tago and Deputy Minister Roslaine Maniri, MFBM Deputy Minister Amilbahar Amilasan Jr., and Bangsamoro Treasurer Naila Dimaraw.
The remittance of DPSC was in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by MOTC and PAL on integrating tickets purchased for flights departing from airports managed by the MOTC’s Bangsamoro Airport Authority (BAA). Accordingly, the memorandum provides that PAL shall remit its DPSC collection to the BTO, under the pertinent provisions of the Bangsamoro Administrative Code.
Meanwhile, MFBM reported that MOTC has been one of the ministries that produces high revenue in BARMM, reaching a total of Php87.1 million remitted to the BTO for fiscal year 2022.
Treasurer Dimaraw said that fees and charges collections from the different sectoral offices of MOTC, which include the Land Transportation Office, the Bangsamoro Maritime Industry Authority, the Bangsamoro Ports Management Authority, and the Bangsamoro Telecommunications Commission, make them very optimistic about the future.
“Congratulations on your hard work in reaching this milestone. I am hoping that with this additional collection of DPSC, your revenue will be higher from what you have achieved in 2022 to this year 2023,” Dimaraw said.
On the other hand, MFBM Deputy Minister Amilasan, Jr. expressed his appreciation and said, “Indeed this is a very significant activity, not just to us in attendance today, but for the whole Bangsamoro since this is the first remittance of our partner from the Philippine Airlines of the Domestic Service Passenger Service Charge.”
“I hope our partnership of rallying around our goal to promote better transportation facility to build better communication and commerce will reach the grassroot level, as we try to allow our areas in BARMM to produce whatever we do best in trade and commerce,” he added. (Kasan Usop, Jr./BIO with reports from MFBM and MOTC)
