The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has reiterated its request to Congress to pass the new immigration act "to effectively carry out it's mandate."
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente repeated the appeal after the Commission on Audit noted the failure of the bureau to collect some P272 million in fines slapped against airline companies for bringing in improperly documented aliens from 2013 to 2016.
The Department of Justice, the mother unit of the BI, had increased the fine per person from P500 to P50,000 sometime in 1999, but a succeeding DoJ administration reverted the fine to the old rate, saying the imposition of the higher fine was without legal basis.
Morente said the the controversy can easily be settled if lawmakers pass the new Philippine Immigration Act which included the adjustment of fees and fines to more realistic levels.
"This is precisely one of the reasons why we are.pushing for a new law because the rates prescribed in the 1944 immigration law are no longer applicable today," said the BI chief.
He said that a motorist caught driving with a fake license is fined P1,500 whereas an airliner bringing in an improperly documented alien is fined a measly amount of only P500.