Plain baloney

It’s doubtful that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) allowed themselves to be used by the group which initiated the No Remittance Day last August 28 in protest of the scuttled plan by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to open and tax balikbayan boxes.

In the first place, while the group is known to help OFWs in distress in some countries, it cannot arrogate unto itself the role as leader or voice of OFWs.  Likewise, the  Malacañang order stopping BOC from conducting random inspections of the balikbayan boxes all but removed the raison d'etre for overseas Filipino to continue airing their gripes.

BOC can now only open boxes whose contents have been deemed suspicious after x-ray scans. In short, the BOC  must first have probable cause to suspect a box contains taxable goods or contraband before it can open it.

But in case the No Remittance Day proved a success, it’s not true at all that several billions of pesos in foreign currencies not remitted last August 28 would have any tangible and jarring effect on the economy.

OFWs remit money to their families in the Philippines once or twice a month. Whatever amount was not remitted on any single day would surely be remitted some other day – if not on August 28^th, then on the 29^th, 30^th or 31^st.

The No Remittance Day campaign appears to be an epic failure, and plans to extend it are plain baloney. –End-

Image by: wordpress