Customs expects full delivery of abandoned balikbayan boxes by Christmas

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Wednesday said it is optimistic that the balikbayan boxes abandoned by courier services will be delivered to their rightful recipients by the Christmas season after months-long delays.

According to BOC Spokesperson and Customs Operations Chief Arnaldo dela Torre Jr., the agency is now working to ship out the boxes or to have them picked up if the recipients choose to do so.

“Ang atin pong dalangin ay mai-distribute na po ito bago mag-Pasko,” he said during the public briefing.

(Our prayer is to have these distributed before Christmas.)

He was referring to the thousands of balikbayan boxes — mainly from the Middle East — which were abandoned by courier services at the BOC, with local delivery services now working to have them shipped.

Dela Torre said three companies have been identified to be involved in the abandoned shipments — CMG International Movers, Kabayan Island Express, and All Win.

The official said out of the 1,480 boxes covered by CMG International, 1,450 have already been delivered by local services.

There have been 1,154 boxes linked to Kabayan Island, of which 329 have been picked up, 210 delivered, 210 for dispatch, 405 out for delivery, and 88 pending due to incomplete details.

Dela Torre said there were 4,625 linked to All Win, with the BOC set to conduct an inventory on the remaining boxes on Thursday, November 10, 2022.

Over the weekend, tensions gripped a warehouse in Bulacan following unclear directions on the release of the balikbayan boxes.

Moving forward, Dela Torre said recipients have the option to wait for the deliveries to be conducted door-to-door, or choose to pick them up at the warehouse if they want.

The BOC last week said its total revenue for October stood at P75.5 billion, or a surplus of 18.6% from its target collection of P63.7 billion.

Year-to-date collection stood at P714.3 billion, inching closer to its full-year target of P721 billion.

“Kung mame-maintain ng Bureau of Customs ‘yung collective effort nito na i-sustain ‘yung collection target na makuha, naniniwala po tayo na mahihigitan natin na magkakaroon tayo ng surplus sa revenue collection,” dela Torre said.

(If the Bureau of Customs maintains its collective effort to sustain achieving its collection target, we believe that we will surpass [the target] and we will have a surplus in revenue collection.) —LBG, GMA Integrated News