MANILA, Philippines – Netizens were shocked over news that four (4) container vans filled with expired ‘Yolanda’ donations were recently destroyed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Mandaue City, Cebu.
Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’, one of the strongest typhoons to ever hit the Philippines, devastated many areas in 2013. The damage was estimated to surpass $4.55 billion and at least 6,300 people lost their lives.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
Months later, bodies were still found in nearby seas and islands while many remain missing to this day. Perhaps they were swept away to the sea and eaten by marine animals or buried under the rubble and mudslides.
The world scrambled to help the country get back on its feet again. Donations poured in, in cash and in kind from many countries around the world. However, while they meant well in sending many container vans filled with food, clothes, medicines, and other things the typhoon-hit people needed, the donors were shocked to learn that they still had to pay taxes for the goods they were donating.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
Because the taxes amounted to several thousands of pesos, many of the donors abandoned the container vans. After all, they had already spent a lot of money in buying these items.
According to Alan Tangcawan in a post on Facebook, the four container vans were filled with relief goods from the US, Belgium, and Norway. Most of these were filled with diapers for babies and adults alike, toys, undergarments, used clothing, medicines, kitchenware, and other imported goods that would have been very useful to the victims.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
BOC Cebu district collector Elvira Cruz explained that though the imported goods were supposed to be taxed, the consignee should have processed the requirements so the items will be exempted from duties and taxes.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
The relief goods had arrived at the port in 2014 but were declared as abandoned last June 2017. When the items were still not claimed and the requirements remained unprocessed, the BOC decided to destroy the items because most of the contents were already expired.
Sadly, when the news broke out, there were donors who saw their boxes.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
Many cried upon seeing that the items they worked so hard to collect and send to the victims ended up getting destroyed years after the calamity.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Alan Tangcawan |
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
