Balikbayan Boxes.

[sonjack2847]

I have just read this and I think it is a step in the right direction. But it has to be done properly so as harmful materials don`t get through the checks.

 

President Aquino stopped last night the random or arbitrary inspection of balikbayan boxes from overseas Filipino workers  (OFWs) after it drew flak from various sectors.

As a result of this, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) issued a directive, saying that “all containers of balikbayan boxes should undergo mandatory X-ray and K-9 examination at no cost to the sender or the OFW.”

“Only in cases where there are derogatory findings from the X-ray or K-9 examination will there be a physical inspection of goods,” it said.

“In the event of an inspection, the bureau will request that an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) representative or a designated officer of an OFW Association be present, with provisions for CCTV monitoring of the inspection areas,” it added.

The BOC warned employees who would violate these protocols and engage in pilferage would be prosecuted and punished.

“We encourage the public to submit videos and photographic evidence of illegal acts to the commissioner of Customs,” it said.

The BOC  said it is confident that public concerns would be addressed while enhancing the state’s capacity to fulfill its obligation to the people.

It is set to hold a demonstration or walkthrough of the system for the media so that the public can see how it works.

The President met with the secretary of finance and the customs commissioner yesterday to discuss the balikbayan issue.

OFWs, netizens up in arms over new balikbayan box rules

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their relatives have turned to social media to express their anger over the decision of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to conduct random inspection of balikbayan boxes entering the country.

Almost 80,000 people have signed an online petition urging Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to stop the BOC from implementing stricter rules on balikbayan boxes.

“We all know how much corruption is happening in (Customs) right now. We cannot deny it,” wrote United Arab Emirates-based Julius Lajara in a Change.org petition.

He questioned the BOC statement saying that OFWs can report to authorities if items were lost in the boxes following the conduct of inspection.

“Who (are) the authorities (whom) they are saying? Even if that happens and we report (the loss), we all know that there will be no good output,” he said.

Less than a week after it started, thousands have joined Lajara in his call.

“I’m signing because the items inside our balikbayan boxes are the fruits of our hard earned money, blood, tears, sadness, hunger, insults, our forgotten dignity, our sacrifices to be away from our loved ones, all our Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries spent alone in a very hot and humid country, being sick alone and still getting up because we are required to,” said Bahrain-based Mariefe Raya.

Zyrelle Deleon from Qatar said the random inspection is against the right to privacy of an overseas worker.

“This will only lead to a massive form of corruption and the victims will be the OFWs who have been working so hard just to provide a better future for their families which our government failed to accomplish for the past years,” she said.

BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina earlier announced plans to implement stricter rules on inspection of balikbayan boxes, which he said are being used to smuggle commercial goods into the country.

But he clarified that the agency does not plan to impose higher taxes on these boxes.

Long, winding thread

On Facebook, a post of deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte gathered hundreds of comments from OFWs complaining against the inspection policy of the BOC.

“For those with concerns, comments, reports on the BOC balikbayan box regulation, please post your comments on this thread. I am compiling your posts so you can all be heard by the BOC,” Valte said.

Some of the comments pointed at the “desecration” allegedly committed by BOC personnel when inspecting the boxes. Some also reported losing some of the contents in the boxes.

Many asked that the boxes instead be inspected using x-ray machines or scanners to avoid such incidents.

Even presidential sister and actress Kris Aquino, who received a barrage of complaints, has weighed in on the issue.

“I already forwarded your concerns which you very clearly stated on my thread in my previous post to those in a position to not only address them but hopefully study, clarify and act on policies that have a direct impact on you, your sacrifices and your love for family that motivates not just you, but all of us to work hard,” said the actress in a post on her Instagram account.

“I make no promises because I’m not in government, but your concerns did not fall on deaf ears, and in my own small and humble way I do hope I was able to help,” she added.

Various memes and open letters have also circulated online, with many calling on the BOC to instead focus on catching the big smugglers instead of picking on the balikbayan boxes sent by OFWs.

Balikbayan box rules

Based on the BOC website, only non-commercial goods or goods not in commercial quantity which are strictly for personal use, such as wearing apparel, clothing, food, grocery items and canned goods are allowed in balikbayan boxes.

Rules also state that the value of the contents of each box should not exceed $500.

“One consignor or sender is allowed to send one box during a six-month period,” added the rules.

The BOC also said that 100 percent examination of consolidated shipment is necessary to protect the interests of the government and the sender, as well as curb smuggling activities.

In defending the stricter rules on inspection, the agency cited an instance when they found appliances such as refrigerators concealed in the boxes.

Safeguards in place

 But no less than President Aquino assured the millions of furious OFWs that there will be safeguards in the BOC’s inspection of balikbayan boxes.

Aquino told reporters in Cebu yesterday that he had set a meeting with Lina and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima about the matter.

While saying that this will be reviewed, the Chief Executive stood pat on the plan to open the packages, which is expected to come in by the thousands, especially since the Christmas season is drawing near.

He said such boxes are not exempt from examination, as these may yield drugs, ammunition, guns and the like.

He urged the public to support the BOC in its job but at the same time vowed that the government will make sure that the rights of OFWs will be protected.

Congressional probe

In response to the online petition to stop the BOC plan, Santiago, who has been on prolonged sick leave, filed Senate Resolution No. 1534. 

Sen. Grace Poe also filed a separate resolution urging the Senate to investigate the plan to inspect and further tax balikbayan boxes sent by OFWs.

“Balikbayan boxes are often channels of private and personal communication between migrant workers and their families in the Philippines. Is nothing sacred anymore for the Bureau of Customs?” Santiago said.

Poe said she wants to invite Lina to explain the BOC regulation, noting that this shows the agency’s dismal failure and ineptness to address smuggling.

Even the House of Representatives is set to conduct an inquiry into the controversial BOC policy.

The inquiry was prompted by a resolution filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, who said it appeared that Lina wants to penalize OFWs and their families with this anti-poor directive.

He said that while the Aquino administration claims that OFWs are the country’s new heroes, they are being treated like smugglers. 

He said international carriers and business forwarders are not only exempt from value added tax and three percent carrier duties but also from stringent inspection measures “while OFWs’ padala will be heavily inspected and taxed just because they are not big business carriers or forwarders.”

More than willing

Lina, for his part, said he is willing to attend congressional hearings on BOC’s inspection of balikbayan boxes.

“I would be happy to go to Congress or Senate to clarify the issue,” Lina said, adding that they are only implementing the law.

He reiterated in a radio interview that they do not intend to make the life of OFWs miserable but instead, only want to make sure that balikbayan boxes are not being abused and used for smuggling purposes.

“To separate the legitimate OFWs from the smugglers, they should declare everything they are shipping to the Philippines in their Bill of Lading. They should also make a packing list so that the BOC would know what are the contents of the box,” Lina said.

He added that they would rely on the packing list prepared by the sender OFW.

“We would take your word for it because honesty is the best policy,” he said.

“If you could send the information early to the BOC, if you could send an electronic manifest, then maybe we would even pre-clear it because the documents have been examined,” he said. “But if the documents are incomplete or if BOC personnel found the cargo suspicious, then it would be examined.”

DOLE: What abuse?

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) took up the cudgels for OFWs.

“The balikbayan box is part of Filipino culture and I don’t think OFWs will abuse this tradition to send in or smuggle contraband that will put them and their families in danger,” Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

According to Baldoz, the BOC has other sufficient means to ensure that balikbayan boxes conform with tariff and customs regulations and the technology to examine the boxes without the need to open them.

The Partido ng Manggagawa also said the new policy is anti-OFWs and should not be implemented.

“The policy is anti-OFWs on two grounds. First, it begins with the sweeping assumption that OFWs are into technical smuggling. Second, it ends up with a new revenue scheme that can generate some P600 million a year from small articles being sent home by our OFWs,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said.

A leader of an agricultural alliance added that the BOC should not make life harder for OFWs and simply address foremost the problems on billions of pesos lost yearly due to smuggled agricultural products.

Rosendo So, chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, said if only Customs would do its job, the needed amount to cover its shortfall in revenue collections would be remedied.  

Callous, insensitive

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte slammed BOC officials for being “callous and insensitive” in treating the OFWs now considered to be the biggest source of remittance for the country’s coffers. 

Duterte said he is bothered by the BOC move to open balikbayan boxes because Davao City has more than three million Filipinos working away from home.

“Don’t ever make the mistake of touching those balikbayan boxes,” the mayor said.

He said the BOC should instead train its guns at big-time smugglers who have deprived government of its rightful income by their not paying the right duties and taxes.

“Commissioner Lina, who owns a forwarding company, knows pretty well that the safeguards could be implemented by the forwarding companies from the points of shipment,” Duterte said.

Even the explanation by Lina that guns could be smuggled in through balikbayan boxes does not hold water because security authorities in the US are more stringent in their examination of these shipments, according to Duterte.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, on the other hand, urged the BOC to be cautious in implementing its new policy.

De Lima explained that while the BOC has the authority under the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines to inspect imported packages, “it should be circumspect so as not to antagonize the feelings of our OFWs and their families.”

Higher tax exemption

 Meanwhile, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara eyes higher tax exemption on the amount of goods and items from OFWs.

Angara, chairman of the ways and means panel, said his committee is now prioritizing the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) which aims to introduce reforms in the BOC.

He said the Senate panel is looking at increasing the ceiling of tax- and duty-free items and goods from OFWs from the present P10,000 to P150,000.

“We need to update this outdated value. Ten thousand is now too small and will not even justify the cost of enforcement if we recover goods slightly over this value. Let’s just focus on bigger fish and big time violators, given our limited enforcement capacities,” Angara said.

The proposed CMTA also provides for a less intrusive examination of goods brought into the country.

[Mike S]

Well it seems someone woke up and realized that to continue to support the Customs changes would mean a death knoll to his party's bid for the 2016 elections ..... he first said he and his buddy fully backed the BOC only to be swamped with complains from OFW's and people here that would lose out on the goodies from overseas ..... while I appose the smuggling in any form allowing OFW's to give support and comfort to their relatives back home here in the Phils is one of the few ways they can make their lives a bit better ..... ain't it remarkable to see how politics can change one's views on a subject .....  :mocking: ... JMHO

 

Not only can they use x-rays to search the boxes but I would make any items removed from the BB boxes be listed on an official form signed by the person doing the removal OR his immediate supervisor and put NEATLY back in the box along with the contents ..... this would at least curb a little of the theft that would take place ......

 

The BOC needs to spend more time catching the oil .... rice .... cars and other big ticket items instead of removing 2 cans of spam from a BB Box ..... of coarse I can tell you why they don't but I'll leave that up to your imagination ..... :rolleyes:  again JMHO

:cheersty: 

[Jack Peterson]

Their voices can be heard when they want them to be heard, now is the time to voice other things too. Of course the biggest thing to do, is to have their voices heard in the next Ballot Box.

 

JP :thumbsup:  :tiphat:

[Thomas]

Based on the BOC website, only non-commercial goods or goods not in commercial quantity which are strictly for personal use, such as wearing apparel, clothing, food, grocery items and canned goods are allowed in balikbayan boxes. Rules also state that the value of the contents of each box should not exceed $500. “One consignor or sender is allowed to send one box during a six-month period,” added the rules. The BOC also said that 100 percent examination of consolidated shipment is necessary to protect the interests of the government and the sender, as well as curb smuggling activities. In defending the stricter rules on inspection, the agency cited an instance when they found appliances such as refrigerators concealed in the boxes.

Well. I have told in some topics, the common use don't follow the rules,

but it seem the custom want to be even harder than I interpret the rules. Even a FEW new refrigirators can be for personal use...

And if I would send an USED electronic thing, I would put it in the origin box (if I still have it) for transport PROTECTION.

The custom don't seem to find that ok if I understand it corect.

 

(E g I have planed - not in the first BB box, but later - send a 26 year old Amiga computer - much used but still with the origin box  :mocking:    It was so much ahead in developing, so it's still good enough to (play some games) but mainly to compose music. If I bring it, it will perhaps be less fight with kids about the less old computers   :)

But I don't want to pay custom fees for it as for a new computer  :mocking: 

[WordsandMusic]

It has taken four months for my BB to get to Cebu. I have never had that problem before. My family tells me they were never opened or inspected so I don't know what the hang up was. I have 8 more to send and I am hoping they all arrive intact. It's hard to get clothes and shoes for me there so I have sent or am sending clothing shoes and light jackets. I don't know when or if I will ever leave the Philippines, so I am preparing for the long haul. My wife of course has her own idea of what she needs and that is a different story. I did manage to pack my fishing gear because I have this-illusion of sitting around drinking beer and fishing some place real pretty. 

[Thomas]

It has taken four months for my BB to get to Cebu. I have never had that problem before. My family tells me they were never opened or inspected so I don't know what the hang up was.

(The DELIVERER try to fill the container before they send)

Or perhaps you left it when it was long time to their next sceduled transport this time?

 

Some deliverers send only 2-3 times per year.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Thomas