After a Facebook post from a group of Australian volunteers lamenting how 41 boxes of new, donated clothes for Yolanda survivors would be sent back from Manila went viral last week, Customs chief John Phillip Sevilla has approved the shipment’s filing under informal entry, keeping it in the Philippines until it can finally be sent to Tacloban.
The Help After Haiyan Project is being undertaken by a band of Sydney-based Australians creating awareness about the plight of the storm survivors and raising AU$1 million for emergency and long-term assistance.
HAHP ambassadors Michelle Baltazar, Marcus Rivera, Alex Chan, Violi Calvert, Veronica Monro, Nicole Zink, Melanie Balagtas, and Angel Adile Hoxha, among others, interlining supplier partnered with the Queensland-based shop Smile Clothing, which donates a school uniform or T-shirt to a child in need with every purchase of a Smile garment.
Smile Clothing then shipped the 41 boxes containing around 2,000 T-shirts and 1,000 board shorts to Tacloban, but these were not approved for entry and subsequently sent to Manila, instead.
In an e-mail exchange with InterAksyon.com, Baltazar said the shipment arrived around Holy Week and has been in a Manila warehouse since then.
It was here that the trouble began, said Baltazar.
When the boxes arrived in Manila, the deeds of donation were not with the other documents accompanying the shipment. After “a couple of weeks,” Baltazar was able to get a replacement copy QST Interlining. However, the organization Happy partnered with in the Philippines to distribute the donation, World Vision Australia, was not tax-exempt.
This was when HAHP posted the following on its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/HelpAfterHaiyan: “Sorry, Tacloban. We failed. …41 boxes of donated clothing items (all new, not second-hand) from Australia will not arrive in Tacloban as we announced earlier. After producing the necessary paperwork to get the tax exemption from customs, the Bureau of Customs has rejected our application for tax exemption and has asked us to pay P73,000 in taxes before they can release the goods, currently in a warehouse in Manila.”
The post went on to say that as a non-profit, the HAHP ambassadors did not have that kind of money.
“We are all volunteers doing this in our time and at our own expense. But even if we had P73,000, we cannot justify releasing that money when it could go instead to the survivors,” they said.
They added that they understood the BOC’s rules, as these would prevent foreign companies from committing abuses. If the Customs officials reviewed their request, however, the former would realize that it was a “legitimate donation.”
The post included an email from the customs clearance agent for DHL, which shipped the boxes to Manila. The agent, said Baltazar, is liaising with the BOC on the shipment.
In the e-mail, the agent explained why the shipment could not be tax-exempt.
“Formalities inscribe(d) in exemption of duties and taxes (are) strictly being implemented by the Bureau of Customs. Thus, we have to act in accordance with each and every law. This (includes) the consignment of a certain donation shipment. Such shipment should be well consigned directly to DSWD to avail the said exemption,” the email said.
The post stirred the ire of Netizens, and received more than 200 comments and 1,100 shares by Friday last week.
But just a day after the post went up, the HAHP Facebook page was able to share some good news.
“We have now received an email telling us that all 41 boxes have been approved by Customs chief to stay in the warehouse until we can get the paperwork ready. The people here -- you know who you are -- have given us the contacts to hopefully get our tax exemption approved and not to pay the P73,000 anymore,” it said.
Another email from the customs clearance agent was attached, saying that the Customs Chief approved the shipment’s filing under informal entry.
“You may take your time to discuss/resolve this matter (with concerned) parties DHJ Interlining, but note that (the) shipment will continue to accumulate storage charges not until it’s been released from Customs bonded warehouse. We will just be patiently waiting on your soonest response in order to get this shipment released from Customs,” it said.
Baltazar believes their post, as well as social media, were the only reasons why the boxes were granted informal entry.
“If not for the reaction on Facebook, I think the clothing donations would have been sent back to Australia and the whole effort behind it wasted plus the cost to Smile Clothing,” she wrote in her email.
According to her, they are now waiting for the paperwork to be able to give the donation to the Tacloban government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The customs clearance agent, meanwhile, is waiting for a “letter of acceptance” from the DSWD to be able to release the donation.
Meanwhile, HAHP continues its fundraising efforts to be able to provide the following:
Ongoing emergency relief in the form of food, shelter, and hygiene kits
Child safety and protection in the form of shelter and trauma counseling
Livelihood recovery projects
It maintains its partnership with World Vision Australia to implement these.
“They have the infrastructure and team on the ground to make it happen,” said Baltazar.
World Vision Australia, she said, “has helped more than 560,000 people” but there are still “hundreds of thousands” who need help.
“Recent data shows more than 11 million people were affected by typhoon Haiyan and the recovery bill is estimated at more than … P380 billion.”
HAHP has already raised around P380,000 pesos from the “48-Hour Rapid Response Appeal” they initiated days after the typhoon. The money went to food, water, medicine, and building supplies for survivors in Northern Cebu, Ormoc, and Samar, as well as Tacloban survivors who evacuated to Cebu.
It was also able to send more than $100,000 in medicine and medical equipment to two medical mission groups. HAHP has collaborated with other fundraising campaigns, as well.
It is also planning on holding a concert featuring Jim Paredes and other celebrities for the benefit of typhoon survivors.
