MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has announced a “fast-track” plan to address the thousands of abandoned balikbayan boxes currently sitting in various warehouses across the country, aiming to deliver them to families before the start of the 2026 graduation season.
The backlog, which has left thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) frustrated, stems from a recurring issue: abandonment by unscrupulous forwarders.
- The Scam: Foreign-based consolidators often collect payments from OFWs but fail to remit the necessary shipping and deconsolidation fees to their Philippine-based counterparts.
- The Result: Local forwarders, unpaid and unable to cover BOC duties or storage costs, abandon the containers at the ports, leaving the boxes in “legal limbo.”
- Scale: As of early March 2026, hundreds of containers—equivalent to roughly 40,000 to 50,000 individual boxes—remain unclaimed.
Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio stated that the bureau is implementing several measures to resolve the crisis:
- Door-to-Door Delivery: For containers officially declared as abandoned, the BOC is coordinating with the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to fund and facilitate the “last-mile” delivery to the recipients’ doorsteps at no extra cost to the families.
- Blacklisting: The BOC and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are updating the list of “blacklisted” forwarders. Currently, over 50 international and local firms are under investigation for their roles in the pileup.
- Real-Time Tracking: A new Balikbayan Box Tracking System is being promoted to allow OFWs to monitor the movement of their boxes and verify if their chosen forwarder is in good standing.
To avoid falling victim to these scams, the BOC advises OFWs to:
- Check the DTI website for the list of accredited and blacklisted freight forwarders.
- Keep all receipts and transaction records.
- Avoid forwarders offering “unusually low” rates, as these often bypass legal shipping procedures.