By Ferdinand Patinio
MANILA – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has coordinated with a group of private forwarders for the delivery of the abandoned “balikbayan” boxes to families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) across the country.
BOC Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla on Friday said they have talked with the Door-to-Door Consolidators Association of the Philippines (DDCAP) for the delivery of some 2,900 boxes that were recently turned over to the Department Migrant Workers (DMW) for distribution to the families of OFWs.
“We coordinated with DMW to donate it to them through the support of [DDCAP]. We provided the link with DMW so that those in remote areas, they don’t have to go here, to the DMW warehouses, and our friends in DDCAP will deliver it to them,” Maronilla said in an interview on Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
“The balikbayan boxes will be delivered to areas where the OFW families are located.”
Aside from providing the logistics, Maronilla, who is also the BOC spokesperson, said they also waived the charges associated with the boxes so as not to burden the recipients.
“We inspected the balikbayan boxes and found a way to waive the charges. We created a scheme to avoid additional burden on our OFWs. They initially paid for it, and they do not need to pay more charges again caused by those who defrauded them,” he said.
Maronilla also said cases have already been filed against erring forwarding companies, and that they are in close coordination with lawmakers for the crafting of a law that will penalize abandonment of “balikbayan” boxes.
“We are working with Congress under the leadership of the chairman of the Committee on Overseas Worker, Rep. Jude Asidre, and OFW party-list Rep. Marissa del Mar, in crafting a law that is more stringent with strong penalties to hold accountable those who are taking advantage of our OFWs,” he said.
On Thursday, the BOC, through the Port of Davao, officially turned over 2,954 abandoned “balikbayan” boxes to the DMW for distribution to rightful recipients who are families of OFWs.
Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said the boxes were originally sent by OFWs to their loved ones in the country but were left unclaimed after being mishandled and abandoned by unscrupulous freight forwarders.
With the approval of the Department of Finance, the BOC declared the boxes forfeited and officially donated them to the DMW through a signed Deed of Donation. (PNA)
