THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) under Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno has compiled the list of 10 countries where overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) encounter problems related to the packages or balikbayan boxes they are sending to their loved ones back home.
In an interview with Customs Director Venus Apas, in charge of the bureau’s OFW concerns, she said their investigation and data gathering named the following countries where Filipinos sending packages back home encountered problems, if not outrightly scammed, by unscrupulous freight forwarders and consolidators:
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Hongkong, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.
Despite this, Apas announced the success of the government’s free, door-to-door delivery of the thousands of balikbayan boxes that were abandoned by freight forwarders by not paying their duties and taxes on arrival.
It can be recalled that on the BOC’s initiative and with the full support of President Marcos Junior and Finance Secretary Frederick Go for the free, door-to-door delivery of the packages, a total of 140 containers loaded with 38,800 balikbayan boxes were delivered to their rightful owners since the program was started last December.
Secretary Go was personally on hand to send off the last batch of the packages at the Port of Manila consisting of 24,536 balikbayan boxes loaded into 72 container vans last February 18 (Pinoy Exposé, February 19).
Following the meeting and on the instruction of Secretary Go that the concerns and priorities of OFWs must remain the government’s priority, the BOC on February 24 held a consultative meeting with major OFW organizations to assure them of the government’s continued support and concern for their rights and welfare.
Apas said that in that meeting also attended by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), they managed to gather 11 of the 15 major OFW organizations they invited. During the meeting, the BOC and the DMW presented further measures to prevent a repeat of past bad experiences of the OFWs.
Beware of unscrupulous forwarders
Apas said the measures include asking all Philippine embassies and consulates to post in their public bulletin boards and websites the names of forwarders and consolidators with bad records in the handling of OFW packages to include the non-payment of duties and taxes on their arrival here.
Topping the list is the Makati Express Cargo Service based in Cavite that the BOC already banned from conducting further business with the agency (Pinoy Exposé, November 2, 2025).
Other companies that the OFWs should be wary of dealing with are:
MBS Cargo Movers, Marcelo Laylo Cargo Forwarder, ME AMOREE INTERNATIONAL, TRI-STAR CARGO EXPRESS, IKHUS TRADING, MT DE GUZMAN NON-SPECIALIZED WHOLESALE TRADING, Brand Expert Freight Forwarder Corporation, CARGOFLEX HAULERS, RMR Freight Forwarder Services and Beneflux Freight Logistics.
The BOC also announced that moving forward, anyone wishing to engage in the forwarding and deconsolidation of balikbayan boxes would be asked to post a bond of ₱2 million before the application is approved (Pinoy Exposé, February 19).
Apas said the creation of OFW desks in all the bureau’s 17 collection districts ordered by Nepomuceno would also help in the speedy release of balikbayan boxes as the recipients can readily confirm their arrival at the nearest Customs office.
“These shipments are supposed to be release promptly because the OFW has already paid for their free delivery and release from Customs,” said Apas who is herself a former OFW working in Singapore.