AS efforts to abolish the travel tax gain momentum, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano welcomed the House of Representatives’ approval of a similar bill he earlier filed in the Senate at the start of the 20th Congress in July 2025.
This came after the House Committee on Tourism approved the same measure on February 23, 2026, citing the need to make travel more affordable for ordinary passengers and to strengthen the country’s competitiveness in tourism.
“This shows that there is growing recognition that the travel tax has become an added cost for families and workers who simply want to travel for work, study, or to be with loved ones,” Cayetano said.
As part of his priority measures this Congress, Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 424 — the pioneering bill to abolish travel tax — to encourage travel among Filipinos, reduce financial strain on families, boost tourism, and promote regional mobility within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“All Filipinos, especially senior citizens and persons with disabilities, must be able to travel freely, without any form of hindrance. This is a right guaranteed by the Constitution,” the senator said in his measure.
The travel tax, imposed under Presidential Decree No. 1183 nearly five decades ago, was described by Cayetano as outdated and no longer aligned with present economic realities and regional commitments.
His bill also proposes exempting ASEAN nationals from the travel tax in line with the ASEAN Tourism Agreement of 2002, which calls for the gradual removal of travel levies among member states.
Cayetano’s bill, which is yet to be tackled by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, cited studies estimating that while the abolition of the travel tax may result in foregone revenues, increased travel and tourism spending could generate far greater gains for the broader economy.
“It is high time to give travelers a break and allow for tourism to flourish by removing one of the barriers to travel,” he said.
The renewed push comes as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Congress to prioritize the passage of a bill scrapping the travel tax before the end of the current session. (UnliNews Online)
