Auspicious Travel Tax Refund

As a citizen of this country, everyone is oblige to pay  travel tax when you travel to any destination outside the country. Right there and then when you book a ticket or at the time of your departure the airline companies are authorized to collect this fee.

What is a travel tax?

The travel tax is a levy imposed by the Philippine government on the following individuals who are leaving the country irrespective of the place where the air ticket is issued and the form or place of payment, as provided for by Presidential Decree (PD) 1183, as amended by PD 1205, Batas Pambansa (BP) 38 and Executive Order (EO) 283, Filipinos and other nationals travelling to other countries are required to pay travel tax before departure from the Philippines.

On the 7^th of May I should be traveling to St. Petersburg but I was denied by the Philippine Immigration, as what my previous blog talks all about; therefore I am eligible to seek for a refund of the amount I paid for my travel tax. Cebu Pacific Air Manila Office instructed me to collect the refund at the issuing Office. I fly from Cagayan de Oro City; therefore Cagayan de Oro City is the issuing office. However, when I arrived in Cagayan de Oro city, I was instructed to collect it from the counter where they collect the travel tax and at my disappointment I waited for about three hours. The Cebu Pacific personnel were friendly; they let me sit inside their messy office. I said messy because everything is out of order. It was really a messy and unlucky day for me. I was denied by the Immigration and I have not collected the P1, 620.00 travel taxes. The almost three hours I spent waiting was put to waste, what a heck!

Imagine that I live in Iligan City approximately 43.73 kilometres (25.93 miles) from Cagayan de oro City. Considering its distance, from our house I have to pay (P15.00×2) jeepney fare to go to the Northbound Terminal, and the transportation fare by bus which is (P145.00×2) from Iligan to CDO Agora Terminal, then a fare by taxi cab of (P300.00×2) flat rate from the bus terminal to the Lumbia Airport. Approximately, if I will go back to CDO to collect my travel tax refund I will spend (P920.00) then what is left in my tax refund is less than a half of its original amount which is (800.00) where is Justice?

According to the Cebu Pacific Air personnel, they could not give the refund because they still have to call to the Accounting Office which I assume a government entity; all he said is that this office will decide if the refund will be granted. However, it was Saturday afternoon and government Offices do not operate on weekends. Therefore, seeking the refund is really impossible. For me, it’s understandable but for me to wait that long and be told in the end that I could not get it is very disappointing. I was wondering why the Cebu Pacific Air is granted the right to collect travel tax but not reimburse or refund right there and then. Well, when asked me to pay the said amount, right there and then I took my wallet and give it to them that easy, but why is it so difficult for them to return my money? Why is it that they still need authorization from the Accounting Office to reimburse funds? This is not a good practice, unjust and not acceptable for me. This is a very annoying arrangement.

I hope the aforementioned entities will devise strategies and other actions that will correct this very annoying practice. It’s not encouraging and very cost effective for a traveler like me to spend such amount just to get a very small amount of travel tax refund!