Inside the Massive, Elaborate Care Packages Filipinos Send Home

The promise of better wages overseas has lured tens of millions of Filipinos to work abroad. In fact, since the 1970s, the government has encouraged its citizens to go overseas and send home remittances, which make up nearly 10 percent of the Philippines’s GDP. Around half of these expats — known as balikbayans, a Tagalog word for “to return to one’s home country” — are women who serve as caretakers, nannies, and housekeepers. Seldom able to journey back, the migrant workers send balikbayan boxes, some 5.5 million a year. In places like Hong Kong, where many now live, balikbayans huddle on sidewalks and in plazas of the Central District, where the cargo companies are located, packing gifts and sundries gathered meticulously over months: canned food and bulk detergent, shoes and chocolates and secondhand electronics. Weeks later, the packages arrive at their families’ doorsteps.

The promise of better wages overseas has lured tens of millions of Filipinos to work abroad. In fact, since the 1970s, the government has encouraged its citizens to go overseas and send home remittances, which make up nearly 10 percent of the Philippines’s GDP. Around half of these expats — known as balikbayans, a Tagalog word for “to return to one’s home country” — are women who serve as caretakers, nannies, and housekeepers. Seldom able to journey back, the migrant workers send balikbayan boxes, some 5.5 million a year. In places like Hong Kong, where many now live, balikbayans huddle on sidewalks and in plazas of the Central District, where the cargo companies are located, packing gifts and sundries gathered meticulously over months: canned food and bulk detergent, shoes and chocolates and secondhand electronics. Weeks later, the packages arrive at their families’ doorsteps.

Beverlyn Bisyag, 28, (right) arrived in Hong Kong last August; her sister, Elena Balantin, 38, (left), has been a domestic worker there for six years. “In Hong Kong, I’m taking care of a newborn who was born September 1,” Bisyag says. “In the Philippines, I have one girl, and she’s 6 years old. I’m sending her a pair of sandals, bigger than her size so they’ll eventually fit her. I send a box so my husband and daughter feel that even if I’m far, I still love them.”

The government of the Philippines doesn’t impose taxes on the packages, and the shippers don’t have weight limits, so people tend to stuff their boxes. It takes Balantin three months to gather the items to fill her box: bedding, bags, and pillows for her 20-year-old daughter; chocolates and toy cars for her 8-year-old son; her children’s favorite spicy Korean instant noodles; and clothes, some of which her employer handed down. Balantin goes home every two years, at the end of each contract.

Sherry Anne Lacay, 37, wraps fragile objects inside secondhand clothes. Among the most important items in her box, she says, are wine and liquor for her family, since alcohol is expensive in the Philippines. “When I left home, my child was turning 7, and now he’s 17,” Lacay says. “I used to have a husband, but he went to another house. He isn’t giving support to my child, but I don’t care. My wish for my son is that he stays happy, even if I’m far away.”

Levy Echano, 38, a domestic worker in Hong Kong, packs her box in the corridor outside a cargo company’s office. “I send soap and toothpaste so my husband doesn’t have to worry about buying things for the house and for our kids,” Echano says. “Sometimes I even buy coffee and Coffee-mate here, even though it’s available in the Philippines. My family says the money I spend on the delivery is a waste and that I should just send money. But sending a box feels different. You get tired from saving, but when they open the box and are excited, it removes all your tiredness.”

The flow of Filipinos to other countries for work has been a boon for the shipping industry. In 1981, a man in Los Angeles named Rico Nunga opened REN International, which many consider the first freight forwarder offering door-to-door delivery for balikbayan boxes. Today, there are roughly 700 sea freight forwarders transporting balikbayan boxes from 57 different countries.

Many employers in Hong Kong provide housing for their domestic helpers but don’t allow them to pack balikbayan boxes inside their homes, so workers assemble the parcels near the offices of the cargo companies. Several companies offer three months of free storage. “I can’t bring the things I buy to my employer’s house,” Echano says. “I don’t have my own room. It’s like a computer room with a bed. It’s prohibited to stack things there, and they must not see your belongings.”

“Whenever I have extra money, I buy things little by little, then put them in a striped bag and leave them in storage at the cargo company. When it’s time to send your box, the people from the cargo company decide which size of box you need depending on how many striped bags you have. If you have five bags, you’ll need a large box.”

“I send boxes three times a year because my employers give me things they don’t use anymore, and it’s a waste if I don’t send them to my kids. Most of the other things I send, I buy online. I joined ten Facebook groups, and I compare the prices, and then I meet up with the seller at the train station. I’ve purchased shirts, shoes, a toaster, imitation Adidas baseball hats, and watches for my husband and sister.”

“I’m concerned about their health, and I want to know how much they weigh,” says Echano, who is sending a Hello Kitty scale to her three children. “Even though we do video calls, it’s different from seeing them in person. Now, if I notice they’ve lost weight when I call, I’ll ask them how much they weigh.”

For the past 24 years, Rowena Pinto, 46, (top left) has cared for an elderly woman who lives alone; she returns home every two years. Her daughter Ana Fe was around 18 months old when Pinto left for Hong Kong; now she’s 18. Her youngest daughter, Jane, is 17. “I bought these items at the end of September when I received my monthly salary, and I ended up spending all of it,” Pinto says. “I bought shoes for my daughters at the pawnshop and asked the owner if I could keep them there. I didn’t want my employer to see the shoes and think that I could purchase those expensive things, even though I don’t get paid that much.

“Other mothers here have problems with their kids — they’re misguided or get into a relationship early. But my kids are honor students, and they’ve never even had boyfriends.”

Three weeks after sending her box, the shipment arrives in Parañaque, Philippines, Pinto’s hometown.

“The biggest surprise I included this year were gym clothes for Ana Fe. They’re pricey, around HK $200 [USD $25], so she didn’t expect me to buy those,” Pinto says. “My daughter is a beauty queen and goes to the gym. I realized from pictures that her friends wear fancy gym clothes, and she wears only a T-shirt and shorts, and I don’t want my daughter to feel left behind.”

Ana Fe and Jane video-call their mother as they unpack their gifts. “When we open the box, the first thing Jane and I look at are the clothes, and sometimes we fight over them because Jane is also fashionable and the same size as me,” says Ana Fe.

“Sometimes I send a picture of something, telling her, ‘Mom, I want this,’ ” Ana Fe says. “She will tell me, ‘OK, I won’t eat on Sunday.’ 

“I was 1½ when my mom left us. As a child, I didn’t understand — I just thought, My mom is going to another country to have fun,” Ana Fe says. “I’ve gotten a lot of boxes. When I opened them, I’d feel so happy and so loved. But now I think, Why do we have a balikbayan box? Why can’t my mom be here instead? ”