Filipinos in UAE rejoice at scrapping of box inspections

Filipino expatriates have welcomed news that balikbayan boxes of personal goods sent to their homeland will no longer be opened and inspected by customs authorities.

Many Filipinos send Balikbayan boxes, a sort of care package containing personal items such as food, toiletries and clothing, to families at home. Andrew Henderson / The National

ABU DHABI // Filipino expatriates have welcomed news that boxes of personal goods sent to their homeland will no longer be opened and inspected by customs authorities.

On Monday, Philippine president Benigno Aquino III asked the Bureau of Customs to stop the random inspections of so-called balikbayan boxes – Tagalog for "returning to one's homeland" – sent from overseas.

Instead, the boxes, which typically contain personal items such as toiletries and clothing, will undergo an X-ray examination. Customs officials plan to seek help from freight forwarding companies to install X-ray machines in their warehouses. The agency is also looking at ways of acquiring K9 units and additional CCTVs for its ports.

It is business as usual at freight forwarding companies in the Emirates.

“We’ve been getting so many calls from our customers today,” said Luz Galvez, chief executive of Luzan Express Cargo. “They’re no longer worried about items missing from their boxes.”

The company will continue to require customers to fill out a packing list, and advise them against sending items in bulk, she said.

The contents of a balikbayan box must not exceed US$5,000 (Dh18,366) in value, and should be for personal use only.

Joyce Espiritu, 27, a nurse in Abu Dhabi who plans to send one in November, said she was delighted that there would not be inspections of the balikbayan — Tagalog for ‘returning to one’s homeland’- boxes.

"A balikbayan box contains personal items sent to our loved ones," she said. "I'm glad our government listened to us and decided against the inspection of our boxes."

Nhel Morona, country co-ordinator for Migrante Middle East, said it was a “partial victory for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)”.

“It was mainly due to the mounting pressure from OFWs around the world,” he said. “But it appears that they have not removed the possibility of opening the boxes, depending on what they discover on the X-ray machines and K9 units.”

Earlier this week, Filipinos expressed dismay over plans to open the boxes of personal goods they send home to their families, saying it was an invasion of their privacy. Hundreds of thousands took to social media to criticise the move.

The migrant rights group had called on Filipinos living and working abroad not to send remittances on August 28 to protest against physical inspections of balikbayan boxes.

“We’re reviving the Zero Remittance Day to send a strong message to our government to protect the OFWs’ rights and welfare,” Mr Morona said. “There’s no assurance from the government that they won’t be opening the boxes anyway.”