[Aug. 25] MANILA, -- Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento said on Tuesday the controversy over the decision of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to open "balikbayan" boxes and impose taxes on the basis of a 37-year-old law is a wake-up call for Congress to immediately amend Presidential Decree 1464, otherwise known as the Tariff and Customs Code of the 1978.
Sarmiento also expressed support for President Benigno S. Aquino III's decision to order the BOC under Commissioner Alberto Lina to stop opening "balikbayan" boxes unless X-ray and K-9 examinations indicate possible contraband items.
"This decision of President Aquino only shows that he understands the problem and he shares the sentiment of our people," Sarmiento said.
He noted that there is nothing wrong with the decision of the BOC to conduct inspections on arriving balikbayan boxes as long as all the necessary measures are put in place to ensure that no parcel is lost or damaged in the process.
What is wrong, however, is the imposition of taxes on balikbayan boxes based on the provisions of an outdated tariff and customs law. He said the PhP10,000 and below threshold for tax exemption on parcels sent by overseas Filipinos is obsolete and should no longer be applied until new amendments are introduced.
"There's nothing wrong with these inspections because that is part of the mandate of the BOC. I'm afraid, however, that our kababayans who are sending balikbayan boxes to their relatives and friends here in the Philippines are also correct in their claim that threshold for taxable parcel which is PhP10,000 is already too unrealistic and outdated. This is something that the BOC should consider for humanitarian grounds until Congress makes the necessary correction on our present Tariff and Customs Law," Sarmiento said.
"Commissioner Lina should realize that PhP10,000 nowadays is only worth two pairs of shoes or just around 100 cans of Spam. Using the taxable threshold set by a 37- year-old law is definitely unacceptable and outrageous to our overseas Filipino who have been the country's lifeblood," Sarmiento added.
He admitted, however, that this controversy over the balikbayan boxes should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to finally look into Presidential Decree and amend the threshold to a more realistic amount.
At present, the international threshold for tax-free overseas parcel is USD1,000 and below or PhP44,000 and below.
And since the threshold amount is the only provision in the entire PD 1464 that requires amendment, Sarmiento said that Congress can just pass a joint resolution increasing the PhP10,000 tax-free threshold to PhP50,000 and below to avoid a long drawn legislative process.
"If there's one thing that came out of this controversy, it is the realization that we already have an obsolete Tariff and Customs Law. We should quickly amend this but in the meantime, I think that the BOC should be more considerate in as far as these balikbayan boxes are concerned. We can skip the normal process of legislating laws by simply passing a joint resolution amending the threshold for tax exemptions," Sarmiento stressed. (Sammy F. Martin/PNA)
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