Manila: A militant labour group launched a protest rally near Manila’s presidential palace to mark the zero-remittance day (ZRD) of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Along with the campaign against the government’s random inspection of cargoes sent by OFWs to the Philippines for taxation and eradication of technical smuggling, the move could morph into a massive “zero-vote” for administration candidates in 2016.

During a protest rally on Mendiola Street behind Malacanang, the presidential palace, on Friday, OFWs held placards that criticised the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for allegedly planning to earn P600 million (Dh47 million) in annual revenues from boxes called balikbayan — a name popularised by shipping companies for the OFW-market in the 80s.

“It is part of the OFWs’ zero-remittance day,” said one protester, who requested for anonymity, adding: “The random manual inspection initially done on balikbayan boxes, allegedly to stop technical smuggling, was a prelude to raise clearing fees that forwarders will automatically pass to the OFWs.”

“We don’t want to be burdened by paying additional fees per balikbayan box,” said another protester.

The ZRD could be translated as a loss of P3.1 billion in terms of personal remittances, said Sen. Francis Escudero, adding that relatives of OFWs spend a lot of money on clothes, food, shelter and utilities.

OFWs sent a total of $12.7 billion (Dh46 billion) in personal remittances from January to June this year, higher by 6.2 per cent from $11.9 billion for the same period last year, the Central Bank of the Philippines said.

About 1.6 million of the 12 million OFWs have agreed to join in the ZRD campaign, Connie Regalado, chair of Migrante International, said in a statement.

About 1.2 million OFWs from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 400,000 OFWs from the UAE, including other OFWs from Australia, Canada, and the United States have agreed to participate in the campaign, John Leonard Monterona of Migrante-Middle East added in a statement.

“The ZRD could also be comparable to a Boycott Liberal Party (LP) or zero-vote for Mar Roxas and the LP candidates,” warned Monterona, but he did not give details.

Earlier, Aquino’s Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said that a zero-remittance day that OFWs launched in 2013 did not affect the Philippine economy.

About 12 million OFWs based worldwide sent $26 billion personal remittances from January to December 2014.