Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

There’s nothing like receiving a big cardboard box full of goodies or pasalubong from relatives overseas.

It’s the warm feeling Manny Paez remembers when he was younger growing up in the Philippines.

“I used to tear open the cardboard box and hang them up along my walls so my friends could see that I’m receiving gifts from my family in the US,” said Paez.

That was decades ago for Paez but the feeling remains the same for many people in the Philippines.

“It’s like opening gifts during Christmas,” said Paez, the president of Manila Forwarders, a Philippine cargo company based in Eagle Rock.

Balikbayan boxes sent by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) have become a sort of chest of treasures full of clothes, chocolate, shoes, canned goods, rice or other kinds of goodies.

With the influx of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) leaving the Philippines daily and their family behind in search of a decent living in other countries, balikbayan boxes and their contents have become a symbol of love from loved ones when they are  away.

And it’s the reason why the number of cargo companies shipping to the Philippines has increased, according to Paez.

According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Filipinos who left for employment overseas reached 761,836. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that from January to July of this year overseas Filipino remittances posted $9.6 billion, an increase of 18.2 percent in the same period in 2007. The bulk of remittances come from the USA, Saudi Arabia, UK, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, according to the BSP.

While most send money back home to their family, it’s the balikbayan box that adds an extra touch like adding whipped cream on an ice cream sundae. The standard balikbayan box can weigh up to 100 pounds. The jumbo boxes weigh at 150 pounds.

The Washington Post reported that in 2004 Forex, another Philippine cargo company, estimated that at least 300,000 balikbayan boxes are sent each year from the United States.

Paez believes that number has increased yearly because of the large number of Filipinos living in the US now.

“Just for our company, I know we send one to three thousand boxes a week depending on the season,” he said.