MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs has discovered 29 abandoned shipping containers with at least 10,000 balikbayan boxes in various ports, the BOC announced yesterday.
Chris Bendijo, BOC deputy chief of staff of the Office of the Commissioner, said some of the abandoned balikbayan boxes arrived in May.
“Based on the inspection of ports we have 29 abandoned containers. These contained 10,000 balikbayan boxes,” Bendijo told radio dzBB.
He said the containers were not claimed because the companies that handle the shipments were charged before the Department of Justice and are no longer operating.
“We really need to strengthen our information dissemination because, based on the list, we have already charged and blacklisted three of the involved companies. Maybe their counterparts overseas continue to receive the balikbayan boxes,” Bendijo said, noting that the BOC has no control on the companies’ counterparts abroad.
“If their counterparts abroad still receive balikbayan boxes from our OFWs, the shipment gets abandoned at the ports because their Philippine counterparts were charged and are no longer operating,” he added.
According to Bendijo, the BOC already signed a deed of donation with concerned agencies, like the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which will ensure the boxes are sent to recipients.
“The power of the BOC is limited in terms of abandoned balikbayan boxes. That is why we need to go through the process of donation. We will endorse the balikbayan boxes to the DMW and then they will be the ones to send these to the relatives of the OFWs,” Bendijo said.
To help resolve the problem, Bendijo said the BOC has drafted an administrative order to require all consolidators to get an accreditation from the bureau before operating.
“The consolidators need to post a bond. The amount will be used as a fund to pay for obligations, in case something like this happens again. We will be able to deliver the balikbayan boxes to our citizens without any delay,” Bendijo said.
The bond also aims to prevent the operation of fly-by-night companies, he added.
“We are seeing a minimum bond of P2 million for our forwarders. This will have an incremental increase based on the number of their counterparts overseas,” he said.