A balikbayan box () is a corrugated box containing items sent by overseas Filipinos (known as "balikbayans", literally "returning to the country/nation"). Though often shipped by freight forwarders specializing in balikbayan boxes by sea, such boxes can be brought by Filipinos returning to the Philippines by air. History In 1973 the Philippine Government under the former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos began to specifically encourage Filipino Americans to visit their family home towns in the Philippines. Individuals who did so became known as balikbayan, from the tagalog words balik, "to return", and bayan, "town/settlement". As part of this program, customs procedures were eased for these travellers. This program was maintained and expanded by subsequent administrations. Individuals who returned often brought gifts for friends and family, part of a culture of using gifts to show appreciation and improve relations by those who were seen by the community as having achieved success in a career abroad. For those returning with valid balikbayan status, customs fees were waived for the contents of two boxes per individual. Eventually, it became common to package gifts, often household goods and other practical items, in a box while still abroad. The boxes would then be shipped to the Philippines. The balikbayan box became popular circa the 1980s in the United States due to the influx of overseas Filipino workers in the country. The first freight forwarder to offer balikbayan box services was Rico Nunga, who started REN International in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The following year, Ramon Ungco, a Filipino residing in New York City, founded Port Jersey Shipping International. These two companies are considered the pioneers of door-to-door delivery of balikbayan boxes, which back then were charged import duties upon arrival in the Philippines. On June 30, 1987, then-Philippine President Corazon Aquino enacted Executive Order No. 206. This order amended Section 105 (f), and added a new subsection (f-1) to Republic Act No. 1937, also known as the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, which was signed into law on July 22, 1957, by former president Carlos P. Garcia. The amended Section 105 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines provides duty- and tax-free privileges to balikbayan boxes sent to the Philippines by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as recognition of their labors in foreign lands, as well as bringing additional foreign exchange annually, that contributed to the national recovery effort. This allowed tax-free