THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is looking to hire more personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to address its staff's refusal to render overtime work without overtime pay.
Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez said the BOC will tap a third-party industrial engineering company to study processes at the three NAIA airports and to recommend the number of required personnel.
"BOC may also ask the Department of Budget and Management to allow us to hire people, most of whom will have their respective plantilla positions," he said, noting about 100 may be signed up.
Customs'airport personnel are threatening to leave their post beyond the prescribed working hours if they are not paid overtime. International carriers have stopped paying allowances and overtime pay of Customs employees since July 2009 after the Court of Appeals ruled it was illegal to compel airlines to shoulder such a cost.
Alvarez is asking the Board of Airline Representatives to cover overtime pay of BOC personnel until yearend or until government hires more personnel. Earlier he claimed to have secured the commitment of airlines to pay five months'worth of overtime pay and allowances. If this deal pans out, there will be three shifts of BOC personnel at the airport.
Barring that, the BOC may charge passengers departing for international destinations between $1 and $2 each.
