Presidential Decree No. 1205 (PD 1205) — Further Amending Presidential Decree No. 1183 Entitled "Amending and Consolidating the Provisions on Travel Tax of Republic Act No. 1478 as Amended and Republic Act No. 6141, Prescribing the Manner of Collection Thereof, Providing Penalties for Violation Thereof, and for Other Purposes."
Data as of July 4, 2026 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the Government to remove the unnecessary barriers to travel and simplify travel regulations; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree the amendment of Presidential Decree No. 1183 as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 1 of PD 1183 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SECTION 1. There is hereby imposed, in lieu of the travel taxes levied under Section three of Republic Act No. 1478, as amended, and Section six of Republic Act No. 6141, a travel tax from: (a) all citizens of the Philippines; (b) permanent resident aliens; and (c) non-immigrant aliens who have stayed in the Philippines for more than one (1) year who are leaving the country, irrespective of the place of issuance of ticket and the form and place of payment. A travel tax of P1,000 shall be imposed on passengers travelling under first class passage and P600 for those travelling under economy class passage: Provided, however, That a reduced rate of P400 for first class passage and P300 for economy class passage as provided for under Republic Act Nos. 1478 and 6141 shall be imposed on those enumerated under Sec. 2-A of the Decree. "The above rates may be amended from time to time upon recommendation of the Secretary of Tourism, to take effect upon approval by the President."
SEC. 2. Section 2 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 2. The following shall be exempted from the payment of the travel tax imposed under Section one of this Decree by securing a Travel Tax Exemption Certificate from the Philippine Tourism Authority: "a) Officials and employees of the Philippine Government or any of its departments, bureaus and instrumentalities travelling on official business; "b) Persons whose fares are paid out of Philippine Government funds; "c) Foreign diplomatic and consular officials and members of their staff who are duly accredited to the Republic of the Philippines including the immediate members of their families and household domestics whose entry as such has been authorized by the Philippine Government; "d) Officials, consultants, experts and employees of the United Nations organization and of its agencies, and those exempted under existing laws, treaties and international agreements; "e) Personnel of multi-national companies with regional headquarters at, but not engaged in business in the Philippines, and their dependents if joining them during the period of their assignment in the Philippines as certified to by the Department of Trade; "f) Crew members of ships and airplanes plying international routes who are leaving the country to join their vessels or airplane or to assume their positions therein; "g) Filipino citizens who are permanent residents of foreign countries who have stayed in the Philippines for a period of not more than one (1) year; "h) Bona-fide students whose studies have been approved by the NEDA Scholarship Committee and foreign students whose studios in the country is financed by their government or by an international organization. "i) Infants who are two years old or less; "j) Scientists and experts of any nationality invited by the Philippine Government in the interest of science and technology; "k) Destitutes certified to by the Department of Social Services & Development as such needing medical treatment not available in the Philippines as certified to by the Department of Health, and whose fares are paid for by private individuals, charitable institutions and organizations ; "l) Those authorized by the President of the Philippines for reasons of national interest."
SEC. 3. A new Section, referred to as Section 2-A is hereby inserted to read as follow: "SEC. 2-A. Unless otherwise exempted under Sec. 2 above, a reduced rate of P400 for first class passage and P300 for economy class passage shall be imposed on the following: "a) Contract workers, their spouses and dependents 21 years of age or below, with approved employment contracts and duly certified by the Department of Labor; "b) Filipino journalists duly accredited by the Secretary of Public Information whose travel is in pursuit of journalistic assignments, as certified to by their editors; "c) Officials and employees of government-owned and controlled corporations travelling on official business; "d) Members of government-organized economic, trade, tourism and cultural missions and/or exhibits as certified to by the Department concerned; "e) Individuals who are twelve years old or below but over 2 years of age; "f) Persons travelling for the first time as emigrants and possessing valid emigrant visas; "g) Those travelling under steerage class; "h) Officials and employees of travel operators, airline and shipping companies travelling on non-revenue tickets, discounted tickets and tickets with service fees as part of their employment contracts; "i) Spouses and dependents of airline and shipping personnel travelling on non-revenue tickets as part of their spouses' employment contracts; "j) Recipients of awards and grants from foreign governments, institutions and organization as certified to by the NEDA; "k) Those authorized by the President of the Philippines for reasons of national interest."
SEC. 4. Section 3 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3. Persons travelling on non-revenue tickets shall, unless otherwise exempted herein, pay the travel tax provided for under Section One hereof based on the classification of their non-revenue tickets, except officials of travel operators, airline and shipping companies travelling on official company business: "Provided, however, That for the purposes of exemption, discounted tickets and tickets with service fees shall not be considered non-revenue tickets."
SEC. 5. Section 4 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. The travel tax shall be collected by the carriers or their agents issuing the tickets and the carriers shall remit their collections to the Philippine Tourism Authority. "In case of travels wherein no passenger tickets are issued or in the case of chartered flights and shipping agreements the charterer shall collect travel taxes due and shall remit the same to the carrier who shall be responsible for the remittance thereof to the Philippine Tourism Authority: Provided, however, That in case of non-commercial carriers or private air crafts, remittances of collections and submission of reports to the Philippine Tourism Authority shall be the responsibility of the charterer or the owner of the private aircraft."
SEC. 6. A new Section, Section 4-A, is hereby inserted after
SEC. 7. Section 5 of P.D. 1183 is hereby repealed and no tax clearance shall be required for purposes of travel.
SEC. 8. Section 6 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 6. The Secretary of Tourism, in his capacity as. Chairman of the Board, Philippine Tourism Authority, shall have the power to promulgate rules and regulations and to impose fines and sur-charges to carry out the provisions of this Decree and for the effective collection of the tax imposed herein."
SEC. 9. All acts, decrees, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 10. This Decree shall take effect fifteen days after approval. Done in the City of Manila, this 3rd day of October, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-seven. (Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines By the President: (Sgd.) JACOBO C. CLAVE Presidential Executive Assistant
Section 4 to read as follows: "SEC. 4-A. Verification and examination of the books of accounts and other records of the carriers, charterers and travel agencies or their representatives, in connection with travel tax collections, shall be as provided for by existing laws."
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).