Migrante International condemned the Marcos regime for privatizing the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) through a private-public partnership with the San Miguel Corporation. This will result in additional high fee that will burden the public and the approximately 6,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who travel through the airport every day.

The privatization has resulted in a large increase in terminal fees for international flights from ₱550 to ₱950. This charge will be raised again every five years. SMC will certainly add other charges in the future, the group said.

Migrants need hundreds of thousands of pesos just to get out of the country. There are migrants who pay their own way because their employers do not cover their fares. OFWs are exempted from some airport fees when they present Overseas Employment Contracts (OEC). But to get an OEC, one has to pay huge contributions and membership fees to OWWA and Philhealth, Migrante said.

These extra charges will eat a chunk from OFWs’ income that they send to their families. “These (fees) incense migrant workers especially because the government is supposed to be running public services such as airports,” the group said. It prioritizes private corporate profits over the public good.

“Companies like San Miguel are behind the privatization of electricity, water, and other public utilities, driving up living costs and worsening quality of services,” it said. “Filipinos should be offended by false promises of a faster NAIA, especially migrants.”