By Jelly F. Musico
MANILA, Sept. 3 (PNA) – Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Alberto Lina told the Senate inquiry on Thursday that the government is losing at least PhP3 to PhP5 billion every year from balikbayan boxes that are not inspected by the bureau.
Responding to queries of Senator Grace Poe, Lina clarified the amount was based on their estimate, saying the reported PhP600 million losses did not come from the bureau.
”More or less, based on our study, our estimate is between PhP3 billion and PhP5 billion,” Lina answered Poe.
In an attempt to compare the figure from the remittances of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Poe asked Lina how much remittances are being brought by the OFWs into the country.
”It ranges from USD20 billion to USD25 billion,” Lina answered.
Senator Cynthia Villar, an OFW advocate, interrupted and corrected the figure given by Lina.
”The USD25 billion you have mentioned was the formal remittance. But they have another informal remittance amounting to USD23 billion. So that’s a total of at least USD47 billion,” Villar said.
Villar explained the informal remittances came from the amount brought in by the returning OFWs.
President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the BOC to stop the implementation of the random opening of the balikbayan boxes amid protests from the OFWs.
During the hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Lina apologized “if we have hurt our OFWs.”
Meanwhile, BOC Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa told the Senate panel that they have no record of a single balikbayan box containing firearms or drugs that would justify the regulation to randomly open the balikbayan boxes in an effort to stop smuggling.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked the BOC officials if they have record that a balikbayan box contained arms or drugs.
”So far negative in the balikbayan boxes. There no arms but commercial goods,” Dellosa said.
Lina, for his part, said balikbayan regulation was based on the reports that they received that the balikbayan boxes are being used for drug smuggling.
”Some of those reports are coming in from different calls,” Lina said. (PNA)