MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs has committed to delivering the abandoned balikbayan boxes to their families by mid-December after a number of shipping companies failed to send them to the intended recipients, a House lawmaker representing overseas Filipino workers said Thursday.
In a statement, Rep. Marissa “Del Mar” Magsino (OFW Party List) said this commitment came after she met with Bureau of Customs Director Michael Fermin for updates on balikbayan boxes abandoned by consolidators and de-consolidators, and the legal actions taken by the bureau on these fraudulent forwarders and consolidators.
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"In our meeting today with BOC, we are happy to get BOC’s commitment to deliver all these balikbayan boxes to the homes of our OFWs by mid-December. Albeit delayed, we are glad that our OFW families will finally enjoy the gifts of their loved ones abroad," Magsino said in her statement.
House Resolution 499 filed last October called attention to the surge in international shipping scams where freight forwarders abroad charge processing fees to OFWs when their partner de-consolidators or local freight forwarders in the Philippines received no funds to process and release from the BOC, leading to the non-delivery of the balikbayan boxes.
Late delivery, damage or abandonment of "balikbayan boxes" has historically been an issue that pops up as the Christmas season nears.
"Inabot na sila ng eight months, yung iba po kasi hanggang April pa hindi pa nila pinapadala. Ako naman nagpadala ako nung June lang...Kasi nga sa kapabayaan ng custom remittance, yun ang problema nila. Pick up sila ng pick up, tapos hindi naman pala nila napapadala sa pamilya namin, yung iba nabulok na kasi noong Ramadan pa nila kinuha, hanggang ngayon hindi pa pinapadala," Sherralyn Niebre, an OFW based in Oman, told Philstar.com in a phone interview.
(It takes up to eight months; for some, packages are not yet delievered in April. I sent mine last June... Because of neglect of custom remittance, that's their problem. They keep picking up, but they will not send it to our families. Others have become spoiled already because they were picked up during Ramadan, but are yet to be delivered to this day.)
Per BOC data, 32 containers of balikbayan boxes were abandoned by consolidators and de-consolidators from August 2021 to July 2022. These contain 6,693 balikbayan boxes. Another six containers are undergoing inventory and will also be delivered by BOC.
At an earlier press conference in October, the BOC announced that all abandoned packages shipped by Island Kabayan Express Cargo and All Win Balikbayan Cargo will now be directly delivered to the families of the OFWs after they were discovered to be abandoned.
"What we have identified, yung modus nila, is that these consolidators, they receive these shipments in the host country, in the origin country, kung saan yung mga kababayan natin na gusto magpadala dito sa Pilipinas. And in turn, they receive the fee as part of the payment, but what they do, they receive the boxes, receive the fee, send the boxes here to the Philippines without sending the necessary amount for the Customs duties and taxes. And that will result in these boxes, hindi siya ma-process, it will become abandoned," BOC commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said then.
(What we have identified, their modus, is that these consolidators, they receive in the host country, in the origin country, where our countrymen want to send packages here in the Philippines. And in turn, they receive the fee as part of the payment, but what they do, they receive the boxes, receive the fee, send the boxes here to the Philippines without sending the necessary amount for the Customs duties and taxes. And that will result in these boxes, they will not be processed, it will become abandoned.)
The bureau also announced that all balikbayan boxes be exempted from 100%-intrusive-examinations and instead go through the usual scanning and K9 inspection.
Earlier, the BOC reported that it already filed initial cases and 26 more will be filed against these companies.
It also said it was looking into blacklist such forwarders, consolidators and de-consolidators though it admitted that the authority to do so currently lies with the Department of Trade and Industry.
"There are records po ng pattern. That is why we are coming up with solutions, one is to request nga po is that with the DTI Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau, they have an earlier administrative order [from 2005] which allows blacklisting of these repeated offenses of non-delivery...We are actually lobbying to restore that administrative order," Michael Fermin, Director III of the BOC’s administrative office said earlier.
The lawmaker also stressed the need to prosecute the consolidators and de-consolidators who deliberately abandoned the balikbayan boxes.
“Apart from ensuring that we deliver these boxes to their rightful owners, we should also get to the bottom of this pernicious practice. The forwarders, consolidators and de-consolidators who scam our OFWs and abandon the boxes must be immediately blacklisted and prosecuted under our laws," said Magsino.