#Balikbayanbox

One issue that has taken Philippine social media and the Internet by storm has been a wildly emotional reaction to Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina's announcement that he would implement more stringent rules on duty free balikbayan boxes that are supposed to have duty free status as long as their contents do not exceed $500 in value.

While a great number of angry Filipinos on social media have gone up in arms to protest the Customs Commissioner's announcement, their outrage seemed to be focused on the distrust in one of the most notoriously corrupt government agencies in the history of the country rather than in their intention to cooperate with the law and/or understand the duty of the Bureau of Customs.

I didn't understand the outrage at first because I have always assumed that while balikbayan boxes may be tax exempt, they were subject to inspections. After all, wouldn't it be irresponsible for any country or government to allow the entry of hundreds of thousands of these boxes every year without any system for screening or random inspections to check for prohibited contraband such as illegal drugs, prohibited substances, high valued items, or firearms and explosives?

Because if there have been absolutely no inspections on balikbayan boxes prior to Commissioner Lina's controversial announcement then I can only imagine how many kilos of heroin or cocaine, rounds of ammunition, disassembled gun or maybe even bomb parts, or boxes of those ridiculously cheap “genuine” luxury items that we often find being sold by “friends” on our FB pages have entered the country via that particular national icon that is supposed to be an enduring symbol of love from beyond our shores.

On the other hand, if that random inspection has been an ongoing affair and the Bureau of Customs simply announced that it will be more stringent in the application of existing rules, then why did the internet explode and the pandering politicos suddenly take the side of the “oppressed” OFW's?

The biggest reason behind the outrage would probably be the thoroughly sullied reputation of the Bureau of Customs. This is a government agency that has eaten up alive many an idealist and upright Filipino that has joined it in the hopes of making a difference. This is the government agency that despite being singled out by President Noynoy Aquino as a target for his anticorruption campaign in one of his SONA's, remained steadfast in its corrupt ways.

What makes it amazing is despite the corruption in customs, we didn't really mind it because much like Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile magically being granted bail by the Supreme Court despite being charged with a nonbailable crime, we never felt its impact anyway. The only time ordinary citizens probably feel the corruption in customs is during the few times we travel abroad. So when one of the most corrupt government agencies in the world trained its sights on the quintessential balikbayan box, the country that has been propped up by OFW's braced themselves for the impact and reacted vehemently to protect their personal interests. The possibility of our balikbayan boxes being inspected by the corrupt people in customs made the corruption that we had only heard of but didn't really care about that much a real threat to our lifestyles.

A lot has said about the Bureau of Customs focusing on the big fish instead of the small time balikbayan box but if you come to think of it, where did the big fish come from if they didn't start off as small fry? We claim to be against corruption but when customs say they will tighten checks on the balikbayan box to stop small time smuggling we complain because we might get caught and it would be a shame if our Air Jordan's and Louis Vuittons might be taxed. It's like saying we want the traffic to improve but when the cops start enforcing the laws we complain and ask for exemptions, or if we belong to an organized group of public utility drivers, we protest the implementation of tougher penalties.

If the beef with the checking of balikbayan boxes is theft by Customs people themselves by then Customs Commissioner Lina must find a way to prevent it. The CCTV coverage of inspection areas should be doable. The sender and receivers of the boxes that have been randomly selected for inspection can even be provided with access to the inspection video along with the notice of inspection. Non-intrusive methods of inspection such as high tech X-rays and scanners will also help.

But I fear that the real issue with the checking of balikbayan boxes is that we have been spoiling ourselves for decades with this tax-free method of importing goods, either for personal use or for a small business, and the threat of stricter rules combined with an outdated $500 limit that I bet most of us didn't even know existed before this brouhaha scares us because it means we are losing that loophole. So we change the topic on social media and lash out at the inefficiency and corruption in the Bureau of Customs instead.

This makes me wonder if Filipinos are really interested in fighting corruption if a real crusade against it entail the end of beloved but outdated icons like the smoke belching and inefficient Jeepney that is somehow allowed to break all the rules of the road and the tax-free balikbayan box that my Facebook wall says should be totally free of any government monitoring despite evidence of abuse.*

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