SO THAT OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFWs) can track balikbayan boxes they sent home to the Philippines from anywhere in the world and avoid unnecessary losses or anomalies, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) proposed the launch of a tracking application.
Customs lawyer Marlon Broto informed congressmen of the bureau’s automation development during the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs hearing last Monday, June 2.
The House committee is chaired by Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre
Broto said: “One of the critical concerns for the BOC is to have what you call automation of the monitoring of the balikbayan boxes. So meaning to say, if you are an OFW, the moment you send your balikbayan box, you have already an application so that you will be monitoring your valid balikbayan box from the time you choose a consolidator, until it is released.”
This was timely as “the problem right now is that OFWs have “no way of checking or monitoring” their balikbayan boxes.
Broto said the OFW, who sent the balikbayan box, “should have the right … and the access to the box itself—where is it going, and whether it’s already reached the Philippines.”
“So we are doing this as part of the marching order of our customs commissioner to digitalize our systems,” he said, adding that the agency is already talking with possible service providers. He says they “will be doing due diligence if these systems are really applicable and practical”.
Broto added the proposal is yet to be approved, part of the agency’s plan is to have a “proactive response” on the matter.
It was the committee’s intention to encourage various government agencies to protect OFWs whose happiness is ship balikbayan boxes to loved ones at home.
The move will promote a “safer and more humanitarian process of shipping balikbayan boxes” and ensure accountability of the providers.
The app will help raise awareness among OFWs on who are the actual accredited and legitimate cargo forwarders.
The BOC is also making ad interim measures to expedite the process of sending balikbayan boxes for OFWs, including clearer documentation process, faster inspection process, and direct coordination with legitimate consolidators.
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