A Balikbayan Box is a large and sturdy cardboard box that Filipinos living all over the world send to family members who are still living in the Philippines. The word “balikbayan” literally means “returning home” in Tagalog.
400,000 thousand of these balikbayan boxes arrive in the Philippines from around the world every month. But the holiday season is the busiest, with mothers sending to sons, brothers to sisters, and hundreds of thousands waiting in anticipation in the Philippines to receive their box.
There are specialised freight companies all over the world who deliver consolidation services to their local Filipino populations. Due to the volumes involved and the modularity of the boxes, sea freight charges are relatively affordable.
The tradition of sending balikbayan boxes can be traced back to the 1980s when the Philippine government implemented the Balikbayan Program. This program aimed to encourage Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and Filipino migrants to maintain strong ties with their families and contribute to the Philippine economy. The program granted special privileges and exemptions to OFWs, including the ability to send tax-free packages or balikbayan boxes containing personal items, gifts, and essentials to their loved ones in the Philippines.
Balikbayan boxes serve as a way for overseas Filipinos to show their ongoing connection, love and support for their families back home, despite being physically distanced while working hard and fighting the good economic fight for the Philippines.
The boxes are often filled with a variety of items such as clothing, shoes, electronics, household goods, canned goods (SPAM® is popular), and other gifts, and may also contain items the sender thinks the recipient would like, and regardless of whether those items can be bought cheaply in the Philippines.
In “A Hard Look at the Balikbayan Box: The Philippine Diaspora’s Exported Hospitality” author Katrina Hof points out that the value of a balikbayan box is less about the specific contents as it is about the perceived “Otherness” of things that come from abroad. That grass is traditionally greener … and indeed the SPAM® that is made in the US is apparently also tastier, the local version being suspected of including caribou and horse meat. Apparently that’s not a good thing.
It’s also the deliberate act of of the giver choosing a box’s contents that make it so special for both giver and recipient. Says Singapore-based Filipina Emmylou Almeda : ”It is from my heart. It is coming from my personal choice and also my hard work. I miss my kids. I cannot go back, so the box is my representative.”
The tradition of sending balikbayan boxes has become deeply ingrained in Filipino culture and continues to be a significant aspect of the relationship between overseas Filipinos and their families in the Philippines.
Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
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Balikbayan Boxes exists in printed form as chapter 8 of RR#1 … available to order HERE
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References
wikipedia.org/wiki/Balikbayan_box
99percentinvisible.org/episode/balikbayan-boxes
pinoy-ofw.com/news/40926-balikbayan-boxes-content
straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2022/04/how-do-you-pack-love-into-a-box/index.html
Images
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3. Video: What's Inside My Balikbayan Box
4. Filipino workers preparing balikbayan box in Hong Kong
5. Video: How do you pack love into a box? | Filipino "balikbayan" boxes, The Strait Times
6. Hundreds of balikbayan boxes are collected in Forex Cargo’s Springfield, Virginia, headquarters. Photo Courtesy: Forex Cargo
