Overseas Filipinos cheer new Balikbayan box laws

A measure that raises the duty-free cap on box shipments sent by Filipinos abroad to their families in the Philippines is slated for approval by the Senate.
Once passed, the new Balikbayan Box Law will benefit millions of Filipinos as more of them living and working overseas will be allowed to bring in more goods to their families without paying huge amount of taxes, media in Manila reported.
“The proposed Balikbayan Box Law is now a section in the proposed Customs Modernisation and Tariff Act [CMTA],” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto said.
Currently, the tax-exempt value Filipinos are allowed to send through Balikbayan box cargo without paying taxes is P10,000 (about C$280). Under the proposed changes in the CMTA, the limit will be raised to P150,000 (about C$4,200).
Also known as “consolidated box shipments” Balikbayan boxes have been considered as a material expression of an overseas Filipinos’ affection to their families and friends.
A plan to impose tight restrictions on these boxed packages met stiff opposition from overseas Filipino workers earlier.
Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina had been forced to back down from his plan to subject boxed shipments sent by Filipinos from abroad to actual physical inspection after Filipinos raised howls of protest.
Lina had reasoned that the Balikbayan boxes were being used by unscrupulous individuals to “technically smuggle” highly taxable goods such as electronic items and jewellery.
Technical smuggling is when the sender ships a parcel containing a value that is over and above that of what was officially declared in the manifesto.
In November 2014, gun parts, ammunition and gun accessories were found in seven balikbayan boxes while 81,529 tablets of anti-anxiety drugs were misdeclared as food supplements. 
In 2011, 413 Casio G-Shock watches and even a custom Harley Davidson Chopper motorcycle of a Hollywood scriptwriter, among other high end car parts, were also delivered through balikbayan boxes.
"Therefore it is incumbent on the State to uphold its duty to protect our people. But in doing so there should be no contradiction between the need to ensure the implementation of the law, the promotion of the security of the country, and the rights and privileges of our people," the Customs Bureau said. 
According to the bureau, there are an estimated 1,500 containers of balikbayan boxes a month, translating to around 18,000 containers a year or around 7.2 million 
To avert such illegal activities and, at the same time recognise the privilege of overseas Filipinos to send parcels to their loved ones, the CMTA, was put forward in the Senate.
Under the proposed measure, “residents of the Philippines, Overseas Filipino Workers, other Filipinos while residing abroad or in their return to the Philippines shall be allowed to bring in or send to their families or relatives in the Philippines Balikbayan boxes which shall be exempt from duties and taxes.”
The privilege can only be enjoyed “up to three times in a calendar year,” Recto said, quoting the proposed law.
“This means that an OFW can send two boxes at the same time provided that their total worth is not more than P150,000. That will be counted as one shipment,” Recto said.
The boxes, however, must contain “personal and household effects only and shall neither be in commercial quantities, nor intended for barter, sale or for hire,” the said section further reads.
Likewise, the proposed CMTA also increases to P350,000the tax-exempt ceiling of “personal and household effects” that a returning resident who had lived abroad for 10 years may ship to the Philippines.