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The ten-year-old daughter of OFW Lira Quirante is visibly happy after receiving her mother's Balikbayan box from Hong Kong.
WITH THE ADVENT OF E-WALLETS AND ONLINE SHOPPING, overseas Filipinos workers may now instantly send cash and conveniently shop for gifts for their loved ones back home.
Yet nothing beats sending huge balikbayan boxes filled to the brim with carefully curated items symbolizing their love and care for those who await them eagerly.
Behind every balikbayan box are stories of the hard work and sacrifice of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who endure the separation to provide for their loved ones.
Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Office showed there were an estimated 1.96 million OFWs as of September 2022. Most of them were employed in elementary occupations such as housekeeping.
"Their smiles are priceless. My 10-year-old would ask, when is the box coming? Even if they can get the items themselves in the Philippines, she is always excited to see what’s inside the box. It feels good."
LIA QUIRANTE left the country in 2018 to work full-time as a domestic worker in Hong Kong for her daughter and two stepchildren.
She said she makes sure to save enough from her salary to send two balikbayan boxes a year.
According to her, OFWs in Hong Kong pack their balikbayan boxes differently. Some store their boxes at the warehouse of a cargo company and fill them with items through the months. Others go to the cargo firm with all the items they will send and pack them instantly.
Quirante said she would use a jumbo box, which would cost some HK$1,000 or a little over P7,000 including shipping and other fees.
“Since my family is in Luzon, the box usually reaches them in two to three weeks. Those bound for Mindanao take over a month to arrive,” she said.
Soap, coffee, chocolates, canned pork and ham, toothpaste, and used but quality items from her employer are the staples in her box.
These cost her around P20,000.
"Mahabang proseso… 'Yung laman ng isang balikbayan box natin ay talagang pinag-isipan po 'yan ng bawat kababayan natin," Quirante said.
(It's a long process…OFWs here really choose what to put in their balikbayan box.)
"Minsan paisa-isa. Kung ano 'yung sale du'n 'yung bibilhin mo. Tapos swerte nga ako, may maayos akong lalagyanan so actually sa ngayon, October pa lang kasi nakapagpadala na ako... 'Di ako 'yung pang-Pasko kasi nga ang hirap. Ang hirap ipagkasapalaran 'yung box mo pag Pasko,” she added.
(Sometimes we buy the items one by one, whichever is on sale. But I make it a point to send it as early as October. I don’t want to risk sending during the peak season such as December.)
Filling up a balikbayan box means months of belt-tightening for many OFWs.
"Sabi nga po ang mga OFW, kapag napag-uusapan nga ‘yung kapaskuhan, na lagi kaming teary-eyed, ‘yung smile na lang kapalit ng wala kang pera," Quirante said.
(We sometimes talk about how during December we spend Christmas teary-eyed, but we just manage to smile even if we don’t have money.)
Quirante said every item in the balikbayan box represented an OFW's toil for her loved ones.
"Hindi mo mabibili ‘yung ngiti nila. ‘Kailan dadating mommy ‘yung box ko?’ Ganiyan ‘yung baby ko, ‘yung 10 year old [ko]. Na kahit naman puwede niyang bilhin ‘yung gusto niyang damit sa Pilipinas, ‘Kailan dadating?’ And then especially alam niya na may mga ibinibigay din ang mga kaibigan ko rito, mga kasama ko rito sa kaniya, nilu-look forward niya ‘yon. Mas masarap sa pakiramdam," she said.
(Their smiles are priceless. My 10-year-old would ask, when is the box coming? Even if they can get the items themselves in the Philippines, she is always excited to see what’s inside the box. It feels good.)
LAI BESANA, who hails from Bukidnon, also works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for 11 years now.
She said it usually took her a few months to fill a balikbayan box ready to be sent to her family.
"Sa experience ko at sa ibang kakilala, hindi po ‘yan isang bilihan lang namin binibili kasi hindi nga po sapat din 'yung budget. Kasi nga po yung sahod naman namin ay nakahati-hati yan. Malayo pa po 'yung December, ay paunti-unti na po kami ng bibili para pag malapit na po yung December ay pag-isahin na lang namin at iba-box ‘yan," Besana said.
(Many OFWs here like me can’t buy all the contents of a box in an instant. Months before December, we start saving a portion of our salary to buy an item or two to put in the box. Of course, our salary goes to various expenses, we just set aside a little amount for the balikbayan box items.)
But she said every hardship in getting a box filled is worth it when she sees the joy in her family.
“The unboxing part is the most exciting. When they open the box, it’s like I’m there with them,” Besana said.
ACCORDING TO A SHIPPING AND COURIER COMPANY, sending balikbayan boxes—a cherished tradition among Filipinos abroad—remains popular.
"The excitement of an OFW while they seal the box until the moment the family unwrapped it is really very fulfilling….It temporarily erases the distance or the gap between the mother and her children,” said Sharon Tordesillas of LBC Singapore.
“There is a different level of happiness. This happiness is sent across when done through a box, which cannot be replaced by remittances,” she added.
Tordesillas said OFWs usually send two balikbayan boxes in a year.
Based on the cargo company’s 2022 data, it delivered 7,352 international twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) globally. Of the figures, a total of 2,077 were distributed in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Annual reports of LBC Express showed it delivered 1,219,853 balikbayan boxes across the Philippines from 29 countries in 2021. This slowed down to 1,126,146 boxes from 30 countries in 2022, which the company attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the decrease, Allan Bautista of LBC Middle East emphasized that sending care packages to Filipino families has “never been more relevant.”
“Certain realities of overseas Filipinos is that not everybody can actually be home. And even if they do go home during this time of the year, you have to understand that the culture of gift-giving transcends generations. It’s a distinctly Filipino tradition,” Bautista said.
“So if anything… the contents of their balikbayan box, I would say are a bit more relevant to the times. That's always been the symbolism of a balikbayan box, to allow our OFWs to convey their love through the packages,” he added.
Bautista said the courier company observed new trends in the shipment of balikbayan boxes, including changes in the usual schedule due to the change in the start of the school year.
“OFWs usually go home during April, May, and June because those are the months for graduation and summer vacation. Because of the shift in the classes, the sending patterns also change,” Bautista said.
“The schedule of shipments also changed, but the consistency of movement and travel has always been there. So, that's, I think, something that's made the service or the industry a bit more resilient to the times,” he added.
THE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS (BOC) continues to extend privileges to exempt sending home balikbayan boxes from duties and taxes.
The general provisions for the consolidated shipment of duty and tax-free balikbayan boxes were released in 2020 under Republic Act No. 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).
For up to three times a year, the bureau grants tax exemption for sending balikbayan boxes. The privilege covers qualified Filipinos while abroad who must be:
-an OFW with valid passport, certified for overseas employment by the Department of Labor and Employment and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration;
-a non-resident Filipino with permanent residency abroad but has retained Filipino Citizenship; and,
-a resident Filipino citizen with a student visa, investors’ visa, tourist visa, and/or similar visas that allow one to establish a temporary stay overseas.
Balikbayan boxes that are duty and tax-free should have a total value not exceeding P150,000. Any amount that exceeds the value will be subjected to payment of duties and taxes.
The box must contain only personal and household effects. Personal effects are new or used commodities for personal consumption and not for commercial purposes, including wearing apparel, personal adornments, electronic gadgets, and toiletries. Household effects are household furnishing intended for personal use, such as furniture, dishes, linen, and libraries.
The items should neither be in commercial quantities nor intended for barter, sale or hire.
The BOC and the Department of Trade and Industry continue to remind OFWs to transact only with accredited cargo-handling companies amid yearly reports of balikbayan boxes that have not reached their recipients.
DTI’s Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau said it received and mediated 520 complaints of undelivered balikbayan boxes from 2018 to December 2023.
The agency said it has issued accreditation to 153 sea freight forwarders (SFF) handling balikbayan box shipments as of November this year.
"We just hope that through our gifts, our family will feel our presence, especially during Christmas."
QUIRANTE PLANNED TO COME HOME to the Philippines in time for the end of the school year in 2024. She wants to personally hand her gifts to her loved ones and to take her daughter for another visit to Hong Kong.
“Twice akong umuwi ng Pilipinas para kunin ‘yung anak ko and then para ihatid... And then let’s see kung ganu’n ulit ‘yung gagawin ko kasi gusto pa rin niyang pumunta rito and welcome naman siya rito sa bahay ng employer ko, dito lang siya nag-stay,” she said.
(I go home twice a year. First to take my daughter to Hong Kong and then, take her home. I’ll still see if that would be our plan this year, but she is always welcome to stay with me at my employer’s house.)
Besana said her homecoming remained uncertain, but like millions of OFWs living miles away from their loved ones, she holds on to the hope that sending her loved ones a balikbayan box would temporarily bridge their distance.
“We just hope that through our gifts, our family will feel our presence, especially during Christmas,” Besana said. —LDF/NB/RSJ, GMA Integrated News
