Dubai: A Manila trade official has warned Filipino expatriates in the UAE against unaccredited freight forwarding companies following mounting complaints over delays in the delivery of their care packages.

“We urge our compatriots to send their balikbayan boxes (parcel) through accredited freight forwarding companies only,” Marceliano Bernal, Jr, acting chief of the Freight Centre Division of the Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB), told Gulf News in an interview.

The warning came after a number of Filipinos flocked to his office in Manila complaining against Sharjah-based Al Rodah Marine Cargo and its Philippine counterpart, Rodah Cargo Door to Door All Over the Philippines, with some claiming their packages remain undelivered for about six months.

Dean Jim Carillo, 29, sent two boxes through Al Rodah Marine Cargo with a shipping date of January 10.

Carillo, who lost his job in Dubai in December, shipped his personal belongings, including some food and perishable products for his three-year-old child. Carillo said the boxes remain undelivered.

Al Rodah Marine Cargo promises to deliver packages sent to the Philippines within 40-45 days.

Rhea Gabriel, 30, a beauty therapist in Dubai, sent two boxes of goods in December for her son’s birthday and graduation in March, but it has been more than five months and the boxes are still nowhere in sight.

“For me, it took a year to be able to acquire all the goods inside those boxes for my sons back home. It would have been okay with me if I had gotten all those things for free, but no, everything was bought with my hard-earned money,” Gabriel told Gulf News.

For June Tolentino, who also lost his job in Dubai in December, the boxes he sent home could have given him a fresh start in the Philippines. But five months later, none of his boxes has arrived.

PSB has listed Al Rodah Marine Cargo and its Philippine counterpart under freight forwarding companies that Filipinos overseas should be wary of.

“The Rodah Cargo office in the Philippines is not accredited by the PSB and is therefore not operating legally. It uses a different company as a consignee to import goods to the country,” Bernal said.

Al Rodah Marine Cargo could not be reached for a comment until deadline.

 

Prohibited goods

In an earlier interview with the firm’s owner, Rhoda Len, told Gulf News: “We are not a direct broker from PSB, but we are operating with a company that is accredited by the PSB which is RBM logistics. They are the ones who take charge of getting the goods from the Philippine Customs and we deliver them nationwide.”

She further clarified that she is working hard for all the boxes to be delivered, adding that some of their clients had inserted prohibited goods in their boxes goods resulting in the detention of the entire shipment by Philippine customs authorities.