Following the successful “Zero Remittance Day” to protest a government directive to randomly open and tax Filipino migrants’ “Balikbayan” boxes, hundreds of Filipino migrants braved the rain and trooped to the Philippine Consulate General today to call for the complete abandonment of said plan.
Led by MIGRANTE Partylist — Hong Kong and the NO FEE Coalition, outraged Filipino migrant workers lambasted the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs (BoC) and its head, Alberto Lina, for allowing the desecration of Balikbayan boxes and squeezing OFWs to generate campaign funds for administration candidates for next year’s elections.
“This preposterous proposal by Lina and the BoC really emanates from Malacañang, which is now doing damage-control and is pretending to backtrack due to public pressure but essentially maintaining its stance on generating funds from OFWs. We will not be fooled into complacency by this trickery,” said Vicky Casia-Cabantac of Migrante Partylist – HK.
Cabantac said that while they believe that partially stopping the random opening of Balikbayan boxes is a gain for Filipino migrants, the threat of taxation stemming from the BoC’s target of P600 million from boxes from overseas Filipinos is still very much present.
“We shall be cash cows no more for the Aquino government that is now scrambling to raise money to prop up candidates of the President’s party for the polls next year. Increasing the fees for freight forwarders will surely mean passing the buck to us who labor hard just so we can send some goods to our loved ones,” explained Cabantac.
According to the group, such taxation adds on to the numerous added fees that Filipino migrants have been clamoring the government to reduce or to scrap such as the Overseas Employment Certificate or OEC and the passport fee that is much higher overseas than in the Philippines.
“Ever since, the Aquino government has treated Filipino migrants with contempt, neglect and only dollar sign in his eyes. Despite his partial backtracking on the random opening of Balikbayan boxes, the rampant corruption in the government means our boxes and our earnings are still not safe from greedy hands,” Cabantac remarked.
The rallyists also called for the resignation of Lina as BoC Commissioner, saying that Lina was placed in the position despite conflict of interest issues. Lina is founder and chairman of 19 companies under the Lina Group of Companies, and was reported to have cancelled the contract of another company in favor of his own.
Protesters handed in a letter signed by almost 100 organizations in Hong Kong that included among their demands – aside from Lina’s resignation — full abandonment of the inspection and taxation plan on Balikbayan boxes, compensation for those whose boxes have been illegally searched and violated in the past, apology from Commissioner Lina for unjust depiction of Filipino migrants as smugglers, full report and accounting of the alleged illegal goods confiscated by the BoC, effective actions against big-time smugglers and syndicates working in cahoots with unscrupulous elements in the Bureau, and increasing the budget for services to overseas Filipinos.