THE government, thru the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), vowed to go after freight forwarders and ‘deconsolidators’ who collected fees from unsuspecting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for the delivery of their ‘balikbayan boxes’ only to left them abandoned on arrival in the Philippines.
At a joint inspection at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) last January 23 of abandoned balikbayan boxes, Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said he has tapped the help of the NBI in the investigation of erring forwarders and freight deconsolidators in the gathering of evidence and the filing of appropriate charges.
The BOC had already filed complaints before the NBI last month against several deconsolidators who abandoned their shipments on arrival.
“Mas importante ngayon, panagutin natin ‘yung mga nagkaroon ng pagkakamali o sinadya na huwag talaga nila i-deliver ito dahil in-abandon nila itong obligasyon sa mga OFWs,” the Customs chief stressed.
He added that the privileges of the deconsolidators responsible for abandoning the shipments were already suspended.
“These companies will no longer be allowed to transact business with the BOC; they cannot engage in the handling of balikbayan boxes in the future,” Comm. Nepomuceno bared.
Comm. Nepomuceno was accompanied during the inspection by MICP District Collector Atty. Felipe Geofrrey De Vera, NBI Officer-In-Charge Atty. Angelito Magno, Atty. Palmer Mallari, Atty. Rugby De Veyra and DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia.
As of this month, the BOC has released the contents of some 66 abandoned containers, with deliveries still currently in progress.
The BOC said upon completion of all needed documents, 74 remaining containers of abandoned balikbayan boxes would soon be released to its their logistic partners for sorting and subsequent delivery to their respective recipients.
To date, the BOC has successfully delivered 8,020 boxes to their rightful owners.
The delivery has been fast-tracked after President Marcos intervened and allocated some P30 million from his budget to ensure the door-to-door delivery of the boxes to their respective recipients (Pinoy Exposé, January 4, 2026).