By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has set a new deadline for the delivery of the estimated 130,000 abandoned “balikbayan” boxes to the families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWS).
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Chris Noel Bendijo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Office of the Commissioner, stated that the deadline had been moved from January 6 to February 14.
He added that additional logistics companies have been tapped to assist the bureau in completing the delivery by next month.
“Our commissioner, Ariel Nepomuceno, had already given instructions for us to explore or get additional logistics partners to speed up the process … But hopefully, we would finish it before Valentine’s Day,” Bendijo said.
The packages were declared abandoned after the non-payment of duties by the shipping firms’ local partners, or deconsolidators.
As of Dec. 6, 2025, the 144 container vans containing the abandoned balikbayan (meaning returning citizens) boxes have been distributed for sorting and delivery to five Customs ports, according to data.
The Manila International Container Port received the majority of the container vans with 88, followed by ports in Cebu with 50, Subic with three, Davao with two, and Port of Manila with one.
From the ports, the container vans were sent to logistics warehouses, the BOC said.
Bendijo admitted that the delivery is a tedious process and asked for patience from OFWs
“Give us a little more time,” he said. “The process we went through was just difficult.” (PNA)
