In response to the plight of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has implemented several initiatives to deliver all abandoned balikbayan boxes to their rightful claimants. The BOC announced on Thursday that all abandoned packages shipped by Island Kabayan Express Cargo LLC and Win Balikbayan Cargo LLC (All Win, for brevity) would be delivered within one to four weeks, depending on the location of the recipient.

The delivery would take one week for NCR, one to two weeks for Luzon, and two to four weeks for Visayas and Mindanao.

Claimants only need to present any government ID, copy of the receipt, and/or authorization letter if boxes will be received by their representative. BOC will not collect any fee for the delivery of balikbayan boxes. For the welfare of the OFWs and their families, BOC allocated resources to deliver the boxes directly to recipients.

As part of its long-term solution, the BOC is pushing for policy measures to thwart similar balikbayan boxes schemes of unscrupulous consolidators abroad. Recently, the BOC met with the Department of Trade and Industry-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (DTI-FTEB) to discuss collaborative measures. Among these are the creation of a Balikbayan Box One-Stop-Shop and the drafting of an inter-agency agreement between the DTI, the Department of Migrant Workers, and the BOC to stop similar illicit activities.

Moreover, BOC recommended DTI-FTEB to review and amend the Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB) – Administrative Order No. 06 series of 2005; reinstitute the accreditation of deconsolidation with BOC, and file appropriate cases against errant freight forwarders.

The BOC, under the leadership of Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz and in accordance with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will work hand-in-hand with regulatory agencies such as DTI-FTEB against dubious freight forwarders that continue to deceive OFWs abroad. #

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