For many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), sending balikbayan boxes is a long-standing tradition, reflecting their hard work and dedication to their families as these are often filled with household items, clothes and memorabilia from various countries, meant to bring pieces of themselves to their families back home.

However, this practice has recently been exploited by scammers and in recent years, there have been reports of balikbayan boxes failing to reach their intended recipients, even after several years.

Divina Badua, a former OFW who worked in Kuwait, is among those still waiting for her packages to arrive — two years after she sent them.

In an interview on Thursday, Badua shared that she shipped one large and one extra-large balikbayan box to her hometown in Mindanao on 29 January 2023. The boxes contained kitchen tools, toiletries, appliances and clothing. However, even after she returned to the Philippines on 2 July of last year, they had yet to reach her family.

“I’ve already come home from Kuwait, but my boxes never arrived. My fellow Filipina worker and I sent ours at the same time, yet neither of us has received anything,” she recalled. To date, even the balikbayan box of her fellow Filipina worker has not yet arrived in Luzon.

Badua identified the cargo forwarding company she used as Phil Pacific Cargo. She paid KD 55 (approximately P10,300) for the shipment, while her companion paid KD 60 (about P11,200). Despite multiple follow-ups, she has received no response from the company.

“Even when we were still in Kuwait, we sent multiple messages and made several calls, but no one ever responded,” Badua said.

In an earlier statement, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Cacdac referred to this scheme as a cargo forwarding scam. He explained that it occurs when the cargo forwarder used by the OFW fails to pay its partner consignee in the Philippines, causing the balikbayan boxes to be held and never reach their intended recipients.

On Wednesday, the DMW facilitated the release of 42 delayed and mishandled balikbayan boxes at a warehouse in Valenzuela City.

In a statement on Thursday, the agency said the boxes belonged to three OFWs. One OFW owned 32 boxes filled with kitchenware and groceries, while another had two boxes containing groceries and power tools, both from Cavite and Batangas. The remaining eight boxes belonged to Vilma Silga, a former OFW from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, who had worked in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.