President Benigno Aquino III has revoked a 1985 order by then-President Ferdinand Marcos banning the use and purchase of airline tickets issued overseas, saying the law is obsolete and discourages air travel.
Administrative Order No. 45, signed by President Aquino on November 28, revoked Letter of Instruction (LOI) No. 1479, signed by Marcos on September 11, 1985, which prohibited the use and importation of airline tickets issued outside the Philippines by local passengers who plan to travel abroad.
In repealing the LOI, President Aquino stated that “technological advances as well as changes in related laws have rendered the ban on the importation of such airline tickets obsolete and inconsistent with promotion and facilitation of travel.”
The ban was imposed by Marcos in the mid-’80s because “the widespread use of airline tickets issued abroad by passengers originating in the Philippines has resulted in the evasion of the payment of travel taxes, thereby depriving the country of much needed tax revenues arising from income, percentage, common carrier’s brokers, and local taxes.”
Marcos had also said the practice reduced the yield for airlines and adversely affected the income of local travel agents, while encouraging black-market practices in foreign exchange and providing a vehicle for circumventing Central Bank rules and regulations.
AO No. 45 will take effect on December 13, with the Civil Aeronautics Board tasked to monitor its implementation.
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