CAISS and the proposed border security fee, date by date

2023: the private proposal arrives

May 2023: Securiport LLC submitted the Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services proposal through the PPP Center for the Bureau of Immigration. It was an unsolicited proposal, which means the company initiated the project concept ¹.

The proposed system joined passenger information, immigration processing, biometrics, watchlists, risk assessment, secondary screening and border facilities. The public project memorandum gives a 20-year proposed term ¹.

2024: completeness, evaluation and negotiation

22 May 2024: the PPP Center endorsed the complete proposal to BI, according to the Center's official pipeline summary. Completeness allowed detailed review. It did not approve an award ³.

3 June 2024: BI told the proponent and PPP Center that it would proceed to detailed evaluation. 5 September 2024: BI issued the notice to start negotiation, according to the same official pipeline record ³.

The PPP Code process lets the implementing agency test technical, financial and legal terms, then negotiate before sending a project to the proper approving body ⁸.

2025: DOJ approval for the next stage

2 December 2025: the Department of Justice approved CAISS after BI's evaluation and negotiations. The approved project cost stated in the later BI memorandum was ₱10,744,100,033.50 ¹.

The approval did not itself sign a concession or start fee collection. It allowed BI to run the comparative challenge required for an approved unsolicited proposal ^1,8.

February to May 2026: the comparative challenge

6 February 2026: BI and the PPP Center published an invitation for comparative proposals. The notice identified Securiport as the original proponent and set a 90-day challenge period from issuance of the challenge documents ².

27 February 2026: BI published the project memorandum and instructions to challengers. The initial timetable covered qualification, technical and financial envelopes, followed by a possible right-to-match period for the original proponent ^1,9.

17 March 2026: BI postponed the pre-qualification conference. Later bulletins moved other dates in the timetable ¹⁰.

18 May 2026: BI published a notice of absence of qualification documents. The notice records that no challenger submitted the first envelope by the deadline ⁴.

June 2026: fee reports, review and a House resolution

1 June 2026: Representative Edgar Erice filed House Resolution 1064. It asks for an inquiry into the proposed user fee, private participation in border functions, data privacy and national-security risks. The House read it on 3 June ⁶.

2 June 2026: Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said CAISS had not been signed or finalized. He described the proposed fee as USD 4, about ₱247, and directed a full review and stakeholder consultation ⁵.

BI said the review would consider whether the charge was necessary and reasonable, whether benefits to travellers were measurable, and whether privacy, cybersecurity, transparency and accountability protections were adequate ⁵.

The dates overlap. The House resolution was filed one day before BI's public review statement. Neither document reports a final award or signed agreement ^5,6.

July to September 2026: review remains open

29 July 2026: House records show Resolution 1064 pending with the Committee on Justice. The resolution is a request for legislative inquiry, not an official conclusion that the project or company violated law ⁶.

24 September 2026: Viado told the Senate budget deliberations that CAISS remained under evaluation and no final decision had been made. He said support for border modernization should not be read as automatic approval of this proposal or its terms ⁷.

Viado said proponents had been directed to conduct public consultations. He stated that the fee, technology, financial structure and other commercial terms must be justified, and that the project could be revised, deferred or not pursued ⁷.

What the timeline establishes

The official documents establish that DOJ approved CAISS for a comparative challenge and that no challenger filed qualification documents ^1,4. They do not establish a final contract, a collection start date or an approved passenger fee.

The newest dated BI statement in this record is 24 September 2026. It says there is no final decision. Any later claim that the fee is approved, rejected or cancelled needs a newer official notice ⁷.

The timeline records both the government's stated modernization goal and the formal concerns raised in the House. The merits of the fee, technology, privacy controls and commercial terms remain matters under evaluation in the cited record ^5,67.