MANILA — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has moved the deadline for delivering an estimated 130,000 abandoned “balikbayan” boxes to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Jan. 6 to Feb. 14.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Chris Noel Bendijo, deputy chief of staff of the Office of the Commissioner, said additional logistics companies have been tapped to help complete the deliveries by next month.

“Our commissioner, Ariel Nepomuceno, had already given instructions for us to explore or get additional logistics partners to speed up the process … But hopefully, we would finish it before Valentine’s Day,” Bendijo said.

The packages were declared abandoned after shipping firms’ local partners, or deconsolidators, failed to pay duties. As of Dec. 6, 2025, the 144 container vans carrying the abandoned balikbayan boxes were distributed to five Customs ports for sorting and delivery.

The Manila International Container Port received the majority with 88 containers, followed by Cebu with 50, Subic with three, Davao with two, and Port of Manila with one. From there, the containers were sent to logistics warehouses, the BOC said.

Bendijo acknowledged that the delivery process is tedious and asked OFWs for patience. “Give us a little more time. The process we went through was just difficult,” he said.