Manila: An estimated 12 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) called for a one-day zero-remittance on August 28, a militant lawmaker said, adding the protest was aimed at pushing President Benigno Aquino to totally scrap the finance department’s plan to earn P600 million (Dh50 million) from cargoes sent by OFWs to their families in the Philippines.
Aquino had earlier called on the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to stop the random inspection of Balikbayan boxes, a name popularised by OFWs in the 80s.
“The finance department which oversees the Bureau of Customs has not scrapped its initial target to raise P600 million in annual revenues from Balikbayan boxes. As long as this target stays, we have every reason to believe that the seemingly reasonable steps done by the government to stop random inspection of Balikbayan boxes now are nothing but damage control aimed at dousing OFWs’ and national protests over the issue,” Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante, a sectoral party-list that takes the cudgel for OFWs at the House of Representatives told Gulf News.
“The OFWs remain suspicious that the BOC will continue to adopt another scheme to compensate for the finance department’s lost target revenue in taxes from Balikbayan boxes,” explained Regalado.
“In the first place, the Aquino administration was the one that set the target revenues from Balikbayan boxes. The president’s beautiful words to stop random inspection of the Balikbayan boxes cannot hide this fact,” Regalado concluded.
OFWs sent $2.406 billion monthly personal remittances to the Philippines in June 2015; and $13.374 billion cumulative personal remittances from January to June 2015.
Their one-day zero remittance on August 28 will affect estimates of the Central Bank of the Philippines that OFWs could match, if not exceed by end of 2015, the $26.968 billion personal remittances they sent from January to December 2014, analysts said.
Earlier, BOC head Commissioner Alberto Lina claimed his office is losing revenues due to technical smuggling done through Balikbayan boxes.
When objections from OFWs intensified, President Aquino ordered on August 24 to stop the random inspection of Balikbayan boxes.
Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz lauded Aquino’s prompt response at the time, adding, “I am happy the president has resolved the issue in favour of the interest of the OFWs.”
“This is an initial victory for OFWs worldwide,” Migrante’s Regalado said then, adding, “Balikbayan boxes have become a symbol of love and care of OFWs to their families at home.”