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The Bureau of Customs is establishing a centralized office that will oversee and coordinate the agency’s policies, programs, and activities relating to abandoned balikbayan boxes
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The Balikbayan and OFW Action Center will serve as a policy-making and coordinating body to ensure accountability, transparency, and protection of the interests of overseas Filipino workers and balikbayans (homecoming Filipinos)
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Under the Office of the Commissioner, BOAC will formulate and implement policies, programs, strategies, systems, and tools aimed at addressing the persistent problem of abandoned balikbayan boxes, particularly those involving unscrupulous freight forwarders
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is establishing a centralized office that will oversee and coordinate the agency’s policies, programs, and activities relating to abandoned balikbayan boxes.
The Balikbayan and OFW Action Center (BOAC), created under Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 13-2026, will serve as a policy-making and coordinating body to ensure accountability, transparency, and protection of the interests of overseas Filipino workers and balikbayan.
BOAC, which will be under the Office of the Commissioner, will formulate and implement policies, programs, strategies, systems, and tools aimed at addressing the persistent problem of abandoned balikbayan boxes, particularly those involving unscrupulous freight forwarders.
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It will likewise coordinate with BOC’s functional groups, collection districts, and relevant government agencies, as well as private stakeholders, to ensure the effective implementation of customs laws, rules, and regulations governing balikbayan boxes
According to CMO No. 13-2026, there is a continuing need to strengthen BOC’s institutional mechanisms for protecting the interests of OFWs and balikbayans.
“The persistent incidence of abandoned balikbayan boxes and other irregularities involving unscrupulous freight forwarders has adversely affected thousands of OFWs and their families, undermined public confidence in the balikbayan box program, and highlighted the need for a centralized office that shall formulate responsive policies, strengthen Inter-agency coordination, monitor compliance with customs laws and regulations, and ensure the prompt resolution of complaints involving abandoned balikbayan shipments,” the memorandum noted.
CMO No. 13-2026 governs all matters relating to the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and coordination of policies, programs, and activities concerning abandoned balikbayan boxes, including complaints involving freight forwarders, consolidators, and other parties engaged in the transport and delivery of balikbayan shipments, as well as all other related concerns as may be assigned by the customs commissioner.
Under the CMO, BOAC’s functions include, among others, to develop and implement policies and programs to prevent and resolve cases of abandoned balikbayan boxes; design strategies to ensure accountability of freight forwarders and safeguard OFW/balikbayan shipments; and establish systems and tools for monitoring, reporting, and resolving abandoned cargo cases.
Coordinating unit
BOAC should also coordinate with stakeholders including government agencies, consolidators, and freight forwarders to enforce compliance, and recommend legal and administrative actions against erring freight forwarders and other parties involved in abandonment.
BOAC will be headed by a chairperson and a co-chairperson, and a vice chairperson that will supervise at the port executive level.
BOC earlier said it has been implementing reforms to strengthen oversight of cargo consolidators and deconsolidators, improve assistance mechanisms for OFWs, and enhance coordination with partner agencies in addressing complaints involving delayed, abandoned, or mishandled balikbayan box shipments.
Last May and June, the agency filed criminal complaints before the Department of Justice against cargo forwarding firms accused of running fraudulent balikbayan box operations.
Last year, a joint administrative order reinforcing BOC protocols on balikbayan boxes and aims to guarantee the safe and timely delivery of every box to OFWs families has been signed.
Currently, BOC’s Customs Administrative Order No. 01-2018, issued in 2018, provides the agency’s amended rules on consolidated shipment of balikbayan boxes. It is implemented by Customs Memorandum Order No. 18-2018, which requires deconsolidators to register with the bureau.
In 2024, BOC also held a public consultation on its draft rules and regulations on the registration of sea cargo deconsolidators as third parties, with the aim of ensuring that, to the extent possible, balikbayan boxes sent by Filipinos abroad will be delivered to the ultimate consignee in the Philippines.—Roumina Pablo
READ: BOC starts release of last batch of abandoned balikbayan boxes
