SENATE Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the Bureau of Customs has no option but to waive the payment of taxes for balikbayan boxes containing less than P150,000 worth of “pasalubong” as the new law prescribing higher tax-exempt rates should be deemed in effect.
He noted that the absence of the new law’s implementing rules does not prevent the government from complying with a portion of it.
The balikbayan boxes which have arrived or will arrive in Manila, according to Recto, must be covered by the P150,000 duty- and tax-free tax ceiling for shipments from overseas Filipino workers pursuant to the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
He said it’s not the fault of our OFWs if the crafting of the impementing rules for the CMTA. “The law has long been passed and OFWs should benefit from it,” he said.
He said the BoC plans to release the implementing rules next month, but Filipinos overseas have started shipping their balikbayan boxes, some as early as September, when the law was already in effect.
As the CMTA is a voluminous law, he said the government should not wait for an omnibus IRR (implementing rules and regulations) that will cover all of its provisions. It can, in the meantime, issue an IRR just on balikbayan boxes and other OFW shipping privileges.
The BOC can come up with its own order covering the particular section of the CMTA that deals with higher balikbayan box values, Recto said.
“They can even copy-paste the self-explanatory pertinent sections and display them near airport baggage carousels and disseminate it through social media,” he said.
This should be done soon, he said, in view of the expected high number of overseas Filipinos coming home for Christmas. “This should be seen as a pro-OFW move, part of the traditional red carpet treatment given to OFWs during the holidays.”