I felt so frustrated when I witnessed why Philippines is such a shitty country that no matter how hard we try to do something to at least uplift the situation of this country, and fight for the infinite corruption, there will never have any way...

Me and My Tita went to the BUREAU OF CUSTOMS, PASAY CITY to pick up the package that My fiancé sent me. A $390 worth of stuffs,.(taxable items are Jewelry and just a plain USB drive, hmpfp!!!) we arrived there before 2pm and goodness I was called at exactly 4:45 PM.. ****! I feel like vomiting upon witnessing this shitty employees who were trying to find a package for people less than 35... and it will take like 2 and a half hours to find it take note: individually... here comes the worst thing they pretend that they will calculate the tax but the real thing is they dont know that exact corresponding amount to tax a certain item.

While I was waiting for my good name to be called, I observed that there we're some koreans who'll be picking up some boxes too,I saw them arguing with the examiner, probably they didn't like the BIG amount of tax that was asked from them,I saw she imported a Louie Vitton bag and some other clothing.. when the one beside me got called and went out from the customs examining area, I asked her how much did she payed for the books that was shipped to her, she told me 3,500, huuuwaat??? for a box of like 8x10 and 6 in tall??? The next one was a lady who was about to pick up a big box, with loptop, ipod, other electronic devices and food items got asked by a shinning PhP 15,000.. Luckily, she have her aunts and mom and was able to pay the amount. Goddamn that was a big amount.

So going back, while I was waiting for me to be called, my heart was already pounding soo soo intensely because I didn't know how much would I might pay... When my name got called, the examiner open my box and he found some stuffs from my fiance' and my soon to be mother in law, he called the supervisor and she said,"I WILL JUST BASED THE TAXES FROM YOUR JEWELRY IN THIS ELECTRONIC DEVICE'... she went to her office together with the copy of the declaration, I followed her.. I was also with an old lady who was also got her package inspected, we went there all together.

When I was already in the office, I was so shocked after she computed the stuffs of the old woman, she got asked to pay PhP 4,357.62 for whatever it is. I dont know why it was that big.

MY worst experience was here now...
I sat to the chair holding my pouch with only 3,500 in it. Then.. she had her calculator and started calculating...
There was a lot of listed abbreviations with corresponding amounts already which I didn't know what the hell was all that, she didn't recite it while computing, but before she finished calculating, there was woman who was from customs too, went inside and asked the supervisor if how much is the cost of a IP.Phone... (that was from the koreans too) the supervisor said, "sige, bigyan mo na lang ng 50"(alright, just give it $50) then the woman went out again., after several seconds, the supervisor pushed the paper towards me.. and GOOD GOD!!! I WAS tAXED PhP 7,452.67. I'M SICK NOW! I was trying to tell the supervisor that maam, I am just a student(though not), and I dont have that big amount of money to pay this, and I dont have my parents anymore to assist me with this amount (though I am still with my parents)...
Since they already play shitty game, I think it's time for me to play with them.

After that, my tita came over and asked me, 'hey, why are you crying? and I immediately tell my aunt that, we can't get the box.I can't stop my tears anymore since I've been waiting for this to come since the box contain with our engagement ring and some more very valuables for me... My aunt and I went out of the office and I called my fiance.. and he was so mad.I was sobbing so much when I was telling him how much I have to pay. But he didn't let me down.

After I called him, we went in and talk ed to a woman, an examiner too. She asked me why am I crying, I told her that I dont have enough money to pay the taxes.. what she said was.. "bakit,magkano ba dala mo? (why? how much did you bring?) hmmm, I smell something fishy here... so I said, while crying, PhP 1,500 lang po. ( Php 1,500 only) so she said, "akin na, gawan natin ng paraan, (give it to me, let's find a way.) she get my declaration receipt and asked me to stay for a little. after a while, she called me and she said, "ok, pirma ka na lang dito tapos ipit mo na lang Php 1,500 mo dito tapos labas mo na pakete mo. (ok,just signed here and insert your Php 1,500 here and then bring out your package out)... So I did what she wants me to do..then my aunt told them that, she also have a relative inside of the bureau..

OmG!! it does happen in real life... a that most of the people in that office consider it as if it's just a usual thing and a norm. Oh well, why I'd still have to wonder and got astonished by this. I know this happens, coz if this does not, why we most of the people would like to impeach our beloved (geee!) President Arroyo right now?...
I feel so frustated telling my american fiance' what I experience in the customs when I arrived home...

For those who'll be picking up a parcel in the BOC in the future, they might asked you almost half of the declared amount in the package.

-electronic gadgets are taxable
-jewelry
-**** almost everything has!

Sorry to hear of your experience. We found a Filipino grocery store close to us that also ships our balikbayan boxes. We recently sent a box and it cost us $65. There were no customs issues and the box was delivered right to my wife's parent's front door.

I posted here a similar experience when I sent my Fiancee her christmas present jewelry and various small items through UPS. I insured the package for $500 so that automatically gave it a declared value of $500. There must be filipino Customs office in Hong Kong as they called my Fiancee and said to deliver her package she will have to pay 6100 php (150US). My fiancee called me at 3am crying, I immediately call UPS and raised hell. They basically said too bad, it's customs decision what they charge.

I searched the internet high and low there is no documentation anywhere saying officially what the tarrifs should be for items. Basically I think they just arbitrarily come up with a figure they think people will pay.

Now the funny part is when the driver got there to deliver the package he forgot to charge her the 6100 php she even asked about it and he even called his office on the spot. 3 days later she gets a call and they said there was a mess up in the paperwork and that she owes them 6100 php. Well needless to say she told them where they could stick it.

After many replies and discussion with friends about this the best way to send items to PI is 1 of these options.

1) very rarely do Balikbayan boxes get charged these tariffs and they are reasonable price. Downside is it takes like 2 months for the package to get to your loved one.

2) If you need faster service use a trusted carrier like UPS, FEDEX or DHL. Do not insure or put any declared value. downside is it is very expensive to send via 1 of these carriers. ** note never use postal service for anything other than documents as anything valuable will likely Disappear.**

Customs is likely the most corrupt department in the Philippine government. There are countless newstories regarding their practices. Government corruption and the populaces acceptance of it, is likely the biggest single reason that there is and has been so little foreign investment in the Philippines. Since WW2 when countries in a similar position at the time like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand have flourished and have very high standards of living.

Had the same experience with you when my husband sent my birthday gift (laptop and some electronics to go with it) and i was charged almost 15 thousand even though i pretended that the laptop was used already. At that time, I just came from work (36 hour shift) so i don't have a lot of money with me (esp not 15K!!!) and i was so upset too because they just decide among themselves how much an item costs and calculate it. I was lucky cuz i had my coat with me and one of the ladies inside the office recognized the logo of the hospital i was working for and suggested to the other ladies to lower down the amount and joked "so when we get sick, we can go to that hospital and look for her and get a discount or for free!" i had a smile pasted on my face but deep inside i was seething and thinking how our government stinks with all these employees. So they agreed to just let me pay 3,000 pesos.

we never used that service again. Now it's either DHL or fedex. More expensive but your items are safe and no feeding the "corrupt" employees.

My then fiance sent me a box and it took 2 months for it to arrive. I was worried that BOC might charge me for some kind of tax for the digital camera because my friend had to pay PhP3500 for the camera her fiance sent her. I told my husband about it and he got worried too because I might be charged double (including fines) since he didn't declare the camera on the custom's form. It was a blessing in disguise that it took 2 mos. for it to arrive because when I opened it, everything was a mess, 2 bottles of big expensive shampoo spilled all over the box got items soaked. The box of the digital camera was at the very bottom, safe and sealed and it seems like the customs didn't bother checking every item in the box because of all the mess. The spilled shampoo saved us not only from paying the tax but also from paying the fines for undeclared electronic device. And oh, I was able to salvage half a bottle of shampoo.

After what happened, we've decided to use FedEx. It's sooooo much higher but the package is safe and always arrives on time. My then fiance put a large amount of money in one of the packages and it was there where he put it. That made us think that FedEx probably got their own customs people and packages don't have to go through Phil. BOC. Otherwise, I won't be able to find my money on those times that my sweetheart sent them inside the packages. We know we're not supposed to include monetary in parcels but my dearest liked surprising me.

--Mae

Well, I think next time just dont declare much value on your items. My aunt told me that even that was so expensive, just have it like the half of the price of the item. I told my fiance' that I wouldn't like him to use USPS when sending very valuable items like this.

I send things to my fiance all the time, and I use door to door (balikbayan box, its only at the most 1 month, people tend to exaggerate, ITS NOT TWO MONTHS, unless you are sending it on a NONAPPROVED US MARINE VESSEL LICENSEE), UPS, FEDEx, Johnny Air (Pick up at MegaMall or delivery to home) and all these services do not go through paying any custom fees, not one peso, not one penny. I've sent a printer, laptop, clothing, lots of other electronic gadgets and never had problems dealing with customs. As long as you know never to send anything via USPS (United States Postal Service). , you will never pay custom fees. Its already stated in USPS that you are required to pay customs regardless of the US laws, since you are using Postal service from the Philippines. Sometimes, let me rephrase that, most of the people don't read or ask about custom fees when sending things through USPS. YOU EVEN FILL OUT A DECLARATION SAYING THAT YOU OR THE RECEIPIENT WILL PAY CUSTOM FEES FOR INTERNATIONAL PACKAGES WHEN YOU SEND THINGS VIA USPS. Even if you declare $0 value, if it goes through Customs in the Philippines, be prepared to pay 3 or 4 times the value of whatever you are sending. That is why imported items in the Philippines are always 3 or 4 times more expensive. People dont know how to research these things, yet you have the audicity to complain. For those ignorant complainers, thats what you get and deserve to pay P4000 in custom fees, when you dont read or ask about what you fill out in USPS.

Whenever somebody mentioned the word Customs here in the Philippines,it gets a sticky bad impression.Why?because most of them if not all are abusive.What you have experienced are just part of their being one.Although there are really taxes to be paid from the packages that was sent to you because the tax that has been paid by your fiance was just the tax he paid for USPS.but some custom officials here dont give out the standard custom taxes or maybe they have standard rules but they have different implementations.

In my case,it was last year before Christmas,my fiance sent me a package,it contained 12 gifts that he and his daughter took time out in wrapping each present for my birthday and on Christmas day.He declared all what was inside including the gold necklace and the 2 cd computer games for my son.When he sent it thru the post office,he was told that it will be opened by the customs authority and i might pay for taxes.When i came to the post office(Tondo Manila) to get it,i was asked to pay Php35.00 but after finding out that i'll get a big box with the jewelry inside,they decided to call the head of the post office,when she opened the package she was surprised to see each thing was carefully wrapped,i told her it'll be ok if they will open it one by one since i knew it's a SOP.She told me it will just spoil the surprise if she'll open it,i kept on telling her it'll be ok.in the end,she decided to let me bring my box without having it opened and i have just paid 35pesos.

Some people get lucky and some are not but i guess it'll be safer if you'll send it thru door to door like other posters suggested.You cant rely much on FEDEX either coz i knew somebody who used FEDEX to send her daughter a wristwatch and an IPOD,her daughter got the other things she sent except the wristwatch and the IPOD.

We send balikbayan boxes all the time and have never had any problems at all.

wow i remembered my experienced 5 years ago, my uncle sent a package to my name, so when he came here in our province, he asked me if i could go with him to manila to pick it up coz it was on my name.
the content of the package are some clothes and some sterling silver jewelry because he was gonna sell it afterwards.
when we got there he talked to a fixer and paid him like 8000 pesos so it wont be checked,
they just give it to us they only opened one box and then we went home.
i asked him why he paid that amount, he said that if they will find out about those jewelry they will gonna confiscate it and will be asked to be paid higher. he has some previous bad experience about this.


my husband send me a digicam thru USPS on a flat rate box and after 6 weeks i got it, the postman delivered it to my house and asked me for 35 pesos only. im glad it didnt get lost.

i will not say that my fiance is ignorant because he didn't read or asked whatever in USPS form of service, It's just that we trust a POSTAL SERVICE of develop country which we thought we'll give us a service at least similarly to what other carriers offer, and I think it isn't bad to do what is right declaring everything what's inside of the box, if you know you are a good citizen.

Mahalnamin,

Customs taxes are really expensive. I'm not sure what the rate is in the PI but your said you were charged arond Php 7,400 (Around $180) on a package thats is worth around $390. To be honest, that's not all that unusual.

And while Im being frank, I dont know what the fuss is all about. You were being charged 7,400 and you cried. So they charged you 1,500 and you still crying.

In this particular scenario, you knew that there were something fishy going on when they asked how much did you have. As a matter of fact, you actually lied about how much you had knowing full well that they will probably accept it. You were part of the problem as much as President Macapagal Arroyo.

We have a saying that "pag binatu ka ng bato, batuhin mo ng tinapay". For me, pag binato ka ng bato, batuhin mo din ng bato"I exactly know what does that mean.., But to be honest and frank too, I'm not that kind of person who will not let myself got stuck in the middle and I'm not going to defend myself. I wouldn't let myself to be used just for their personal satisfaction of other's money, me and my fiance' will not feed them. if you are in in that situation you will do what you can do. I'm not a crying baby there, I just want my package that time but I think I wouldn't have it so I called My Man.. I DIDN'T CRIED in the Customs face.

"I am nice to people who are nice to me, and treating me fairly,
but I'm like a roaring dragon if someone mistreats me"

Just as I am a Good citizen, I'm willing to pay what is right, not just merely estimated.

How did you know they were using you initially. They were just trying to tax/charge you 7,452.67 pesos. By their calculation, that is the right tax for the items that were in the package.

There was a story about a korean and her LV bag, another about an old woman, and one about how they made you wait over 2 1/2 hour but there was nothing in your initial post to indicate that the amount they were charging you was fraud. You didnt know what the tax rate was and the exact amount of the package. All you've got is an estimate and the fact that you think their estimate is not right

So after you cried outside, you went back to the office to talk the examiner to lower the fee to what "you think" is right. And they did. To be honest, this is when fraud started.

Im not judging you. That is probably what I'll do too. I mean I'll probably try to talk them into lowering the fee too.

What I would not do though... Is talk about how shitty the whole process is, blame other people like the president or the system, when I instigated the whole thing.

i'm so sorry you had to go through this ordeal. it's not surprising for BOC to be like this and for some of the other govenrment offices as well. don't you know BOC is only second to DPWH when it comes to corruption and bribery?? keep that in mind.

im a filipino. my fiance is half-filipino. we know our country. the good, the bad, the ugly. i feel your sentiments ms. Mahalnamin.. it just saddens me how you referred to our country as a "shitty country" Rizal will truly be disappointed.

Actually, declaring the right value of all the items in a package is for the package's insurance that's why they charge you expensively. By not declaring the right value means you are taking the chance and risk no matter what happens to the package. Even FedEx charges so high even on a small box but since we like taking our chances and have a strong faith that our package will arrive safely to its destination, we kind of not declare the exact value of the items. But I'm not suggesting that you should follow our lead... na-ah .

--Mae