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The Bureau of Customs-Port of Manila facilitated physical examination of some abandoned balikbayan boxes prior to release to consignees
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The boxes were sent through Jenrich Fast Cargo but abandoned by its deconsolidator in the Philippines Will Express
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BOC-POM district collector Michael Angelo Vargas assured the release of the verified boxes to claimants
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Manila (POM) facilitated the physical examination of some abandoned balikbayan boxes prior to their release to consignees.
The boxes were sent through Jenrich Fast Cargo but abandoned by Will Express, its deconsolidator in the Philippines.
The physical examination took place on November 2 to 4, 2021 before the release of the balikbayan boxes to their individual consignees/claimants, BOC said in a statement.
For transparency, BOC said the assigned customs examiner used a body-worn camera during the physical examination, with representatives from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, and Enforcement Security Service also standing as witnesses.
Some of the claimants and their representatives were also in attendance to observe the examination.
The balikbayan box shipments were discharged and abandoned at Manila South Harbor.
BOC-POM then formed a team to assist in processing the release of the abandoned shipments to the claimants, who filed for the lifting of abandonment that has been imposed on the shipment since February 2021.
On August 10, 2021, BOC conducted the stripping of the shipments to verify if the balikbayan boxes of the claimants were among those loaded in the containers. After the stripping, the BOC-POM team discovered there were balikbayan boxes included in the invoices that were not found inside the containers.
BOC-POM district collector Michael Angelo Vargas assured that the boxes that were verified and among those loaded in the containers will be released to their respective claimants.
