Passenger Protection and Reimbursement for Deferred Departures Act
Filed on January 12, 2026, and referred to the Committees on Justice and Human Rights and Finance; it has been pending in committee since January 26, 2026, with no recorded action since then.
This bill addresses the financial burden on passengers due to deferred departures, a significant issue for many travelers.
The bill responds to ongoing issues with deferred departures and the financial impact on passengers.
Passenger Protection and Reimbursement for Deferred Departures Act
The Passenger Protection and Reimbursement for Deferred Departures Act mandates the reimbursement of travel expenses for Filipino passengers whose international departures are deferred or denied by the Bureau of Immigration, under specific conditions and safeguards.
Compared with current law:
Passengers currently have no guaranteed reimbursement for deferred departures.
Passengers will be reimbursed for travel expenses if their departure is deferred without a court order.
The bill mandates the reimbursement of travel expenses for Filipino passengers whose international departures are deferred or denied by the Bureau of Immigration without a court order.
Source · full text✦ Dashed tags are AI-suggested nuance; solid tags follow the committee taxonomy.
Stalled: the bill has sat in committee for over 8 months with no action since its referral on January 26, 2026.
No floor deliberations yet — this measure has not reached plenary. Its committee-stage actions appear under Legislative history above.
Sentate Difite of the Secrelary TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session 26 JAN 12 P1:26 SENATE RECEIVED BY: S. No. 1657 Introduced by Senator Raffy T. Tulfo AN ACT MANDATING THE REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL EXPENSES INCURRED BY FILIPINO PASSENGERS WHOSE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURE IS DEFERRED OR DENIED BY THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION, SUBJECT TO ANTI-TRAFFICKING SAFEGUARDS, AND PRESCRIBING THE CONDITIONS THEREFOR EXPLANATORY NOTE According to Article III, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution "The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law. Hence, it is the right of every Filipino individual to travel but can be restricted on the grounds of national security, public safety, or public health, and only as provided by law. However there have been reports of passengers being offloaded due to extended immigration checks. Prolonged immigration interviews which are usually conducted in the context of anti-trafficking efforts have, in certain instances, resulted in Filipino passengers missing their scheduled flights despite the absence of a formal court order directing their deferment or denial of departure. Thus, affected passengers are forced to shoulder additional travel expenses even though they are not at fault. In 2024, It has been reported that approximately 16,617 passengers have been offloaded in the first half of year, compared to the 36,316 offloaded passengers in
2023.1 Since 2024, the General Appropriations Act has included a special provision under the Department of Justice-Bureau of Immigration (DOJ-BI), Special Provision No. 1, Immigration Fees and Collections, Volume I-A which provides that travel expenses incurred by Filipino passengers who were deferred or denied boarding without a court order shall be charged against the balance of the Special Trust Fund Account. Thus, this measure aims to codify into law clear, uniform, and transparent provisions governing the reimbursement of such travel expenses, consistent with existing laws and fiscal accountability standards. While the State recognizes the vital role of the Bureau of Immigration in enforcing immigration laws and implementing anti-trafficking measures, it is equally imperative to safeguard the rights of Filipino passengers and ensure that they are protected from unnecessary financial burdens arising from deferred or denied boarding. It is for this purpose that the approval of this bill is earnestly sought. RAFFY - TULFO 1https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/918506/bi-chief-over-16k-passengers- offloaded-from-jan-to-june-2024/story/?amp
Office of the retary TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session P1:26 26 JAN 12 SENATE RECEIVED BY: S. No. 1657 Introduced by Senator Raffy T. Tulfo AN ACT MANDATING THE REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL EXPENSES INCURRED BY FILIPINO PASSENGERS WHOSE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURE IS DEFERRED OR DENIED BY THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION, SUBJECT TO ANTI-TRAFFICKING SAFEGUARDS, AND PRESCRIBING THE CONDITIONS THEREFOR Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled.
Section 1. Short Title - This Act shall be known as the "Passenger Protection
and Reimbursement for Deferred Departures Act".
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy - It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
protect the rights, welfare, and dignity of Filipino travelers, consistent with their 5 constitutional right to travel, while ensuring effective immigration enforcement. 6 Towards this end, this Act establishes a mechanism to provide financial relief to Filipino 7 passengers whose international travel is delayed or deferred due to extended immigration checks, without diminishing the authority of the Bureau of Immigration 9 to enforce immigration and anti-trafficking laws.
Sec. 3. Definition of Terms -
a. Court Order - refers to a directive issued by a Philippine court of competent jurisdiction preventing any attempt by a Filipino passenger from leaving the Philippines. b. Declared Sponsor - refers to a person or organization that meets the qualifications to sponsor a passenger's travel, per qualifications provided
by the IACAT Guidelines on Departure Formalities for International- Bound Passengers; C. Deferred Departure - refers to the situation wherein a passenger's departure is postponed for reasons outlined in Section 4 hereof, excluding personal reasons, voluntary itinerary changes by the passenger, or airline-related issues, among others. d. Passenger - refers to a Filipino national traveling to a foreign country, regardless of the travel purpose, whether for temporary or permanent migration, whose travel has been deferred by Immigration Officers due to immigration inspection. e. Reimbursement - refers to the allowable monetary amount granted to a passenger to cover his/her travel expense as defined in paragraph (h) hereof, due to a deferred departure that does not meet the exceptions in Section 4 of this Act. f. Trafficking in Persons - as defined in Section 3(a) of the RA No. 9208, as amended, refers to the recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, obtaining, transportation, transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim's consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation or the prosecution which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others, or the engagement of others for the production or distribution, or both, of materials that depict child sexual abuse or exploitation, or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude, or the removal of sale and organs. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, adoption or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration for exploitative purposes, shall also be
considered trafficking in persons' even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph. g. Trafficking in Persons Cases - refer to cases that involve the illegal act/s of trafficking in persons. h. Travel Expense - refers strictly to the total cost of a flight ticket for the departure segment from the Philippines' port of exit to the first overseas port of entry.
Sec. 4. Eligibility Criteria for Reimbursement Claims.- Any Filipino passenger
9 whose international departure from the Philippines is deferred or denied by the Bureau 10 of Immigration without a court order may be eligible to claim reimbursement of travel expenses, subject to the conditions and limitations provided under this Act. Eligibility for reimbursement shall arise when the deferral or denial of departure results from immigration inspection conducted in the course of immigration assessment, verification, or clearance procedures. No reimbursement shall be granted where the deferral or denial of departure is due to any of the following: a. Failure to present an Allow Departure Order (ADO) for passengers with an active Court Order or who are accused and released on bail; b. Failure to present a duly issued Travel Authority for international travel for government employees under the executive department, as required under existing regulations; c. Failure to present required documents under the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Guidelines on Departure Formalities for International-Bound Filipino Passengers (Guidelines) and other government- required supporting documents for international travels; d. Any passenger who is identified to have fraudulent, falsified, or tampered travel documents, or identified as a potential trafficked person, or has misrepresented their travel purpose, e. Passengers who are assessed as suspected illegal recruiters/traffickers under RA No. 9208, as amended.
f. Travel/deployment restrictions imposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and other authorized government agencies; and g. Failure to board the flight for causes other than the result of immigration inspection.
Sec. 5. Filing of Reimbursement. - A claim for reimbursement of travel
7 expenses shall be filed personally by the passenger with the BI's International Port of Entry and Exit Management Office (IPEE-MO) where the passenger was deferred for 9 departure, within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of the deferred departure.
Sec. 6. Evaluation of Reimbursement Claims. - The Bureau of Immigration
11 (BI), through its International Port of Entry and Exit Management Office (IPEE-MO) at the international airport or seaport of exit where the passenger's departure was deferred, shall receive and evaluate claims for reimbursement of travel expenses and shall endorse the same to the Department of Justice-Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for determination. The IACAT shall assess the eligibility of the passenger based on records generated during immigration inspection and shall resolve the reimbursement claim within thirty (30) working days from receipt of the BI's endorsement.
Sec. 7. Notice of Decision and Finality. - The claimant shall be notified of the
decision on the reimbursement claim through the fastest means available, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to the Bureau of Immigration. The determination of eligibility and the amount of reimbursement shall be final and executory.
Sec. 8. Limitations for a Reimbursement Claim. -
a. Eligible passengers shall be entitled to only one (1) reimbursement claim per year regardless of the number of deferred departures. b. Only travel expenses that a passenger or a declared sponsor personally paid for will be considered for reimbursement.
Sec. 9. Right to Data Privacy. - All government agencies involved in the data
gathering and processing shall ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the personal data processed and prevent their use for unauthorized purposes, subject to the requirements under RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
Sec. 10. Reportorial requirements. - The BI shall submit a quarterly report to
2 the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Commission on Audit (COA 3 on the claims filed, denied, granted, and released to ensure transparency and accountability.
Sec. 11. Appropriations. - The amounts necessary for the implementation of
6 this Act shall be charged against the current year available appropriations of the 7 Bureau of Immigration. Thereafter, the amount necessary for its continuous implementation shall be included in the annual general appropriations.
Sec. 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The DOJ, BI, and the DBM
shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement the provisions of 11 this Act.
Sec. 13. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is subsequently
declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions hereof which are not affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect.
Sec. 14. Repealing Clause. - All other laws, executive orders, rules and
regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with any provisions hereof are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Sec. 15. Effectivity clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation. Approved,
Reproduced from the Senate document. The official PDF is the authoritative version.