March 10, 2026
MANILA – A substitute bill consolidating proposals to abolish the travel tax has been approved by the House of Representatives’ committee on ways and means after two hearings on its potential effects and impact.
During Monday’s hearing, Manila Rep. Ernesto Dionisio Jr. moved to approve Sections 1 and 2 of the still-unnumbered substitute measure covering 17 bills, including Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos’ House Bill No. 7443.
With Dionisio’s motion seconded without objections, committee chairperson and Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo approved it.
The panel’s approval means the bill has already cleared two committees—the panel itself and the House Committee on Tourism.
It will next be sent to the House Committee on Appropriations for further deliberation.
Quimbo said that while programs funded by travel tax collections are important, their financing should come directly from the national budget rather than relying on a variable that is not fixed—the number of travelers entering the country each year.
“Allow me to bounce off from last week’s session on the issue of the travel tax. We heard from the agencies the programs funded by the travel tax — for tourism, education, and culture. We acknowledge the importance of these programs, but these should not continue at the expense and sacrifice of our Filipino travelers, who mostly are from the youth and middle class,” Quimbo said in Filipino.
“Because this is important, this should be directly funded by the national budget or the General Appropriations Act. The survival of these programs should not be dependent on the number of travelers. They are far too important to be dependent on unpredictable numbers,” he added.
If enacted, the bill would repeal the travel tax imposed under Presidential Decree No. 1183 and related provisions of the Tourism Act of 2009, ending the collection of fixed charges currently set at P2,700 for first-class passengers and P1,620 for economy-class travelers.
“The travel tax was created in a very different economic context. Today, it has become an added cost that restricts mobility and weighs heavily on ordinary Filipinos who simply want to travel for work, family or opportunity,” Marcos said.
READ: Sandro Marcos seeks abolition of travel tax
Despite support for abolishing the travel tax, several agencies that benefit from it have urged the House to identify a substitute funding source.
During the Committee on Ways and Means’ previous hearing, the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) said that the Higher Education Development Fund—sourced from the travel tax under Republic Act 7722—is a statutory mandate, not a discretionary budget item.
Ched Chairperson Shirley Agrupis emphasized that lawmakers must find a replacement funding source to sustain key reforms and development programs in the sector.
READ: CHED asks House panel for new funding source if travel tax is abolished
READ: Travel tax abolition among 21 Marcos priority bills
The proposed travel tax abolition is also one of the 21 proposed bills that were identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council as priority legislation.
In a press briefing last February 10, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expects Congress to pass these bills by June, a month ahead of his second-to-last State of the Nation Address. /mcm