Editor’s Note: Updated to include the video fact check. Published on July 5, 2024.
@verafiles.org Bawal na raw ang mga tsokolate sa airports? Panoorin ang aming fact check dito: #verafilesfactcheck #factcheckph #factcheck #verafied #fyp #fypシ #fypph #naia #pasalubong #chocolates ♬ original sound – VERA Files
A Facebook (FB) page claimed that chocolates are not allowed as pasalubong (gifts) to be brought into airports in the Philippines. This is not true.
“There is no instance that chocolates are not allowed/permitted for air travel,” the Manila International Airport Authority’s Customer Relations Center told VERA Files Fact Check in a July 2 email.
Chocolates are also not included in the Office of Transportation Security’s list of prohibited items.
The erroneous post, which carried a photo of baggage filled with chocolates, read:
“Sorry pinas bawal na pala ang pasalubong sbi sa Airport?kaloka !!! Anu kaya gusto nila ibigay sa taga airport ung mga chocolate namin?? only in the Pelepenss???”
(Sorry Philippines, so the airport said that pasalubong is now prohibited ? This is madness!!!! Would they want to give our chocolates to airport workers ?? only in the Philippines ???)
In a 2015 memorandum, the Food and Drug Administration allowed the entry or importation of the following products without prior clearance, so long as the items don’t exceed the following limits:
- Processed food, including cooked food: 10 kilograms (kg)
- Childcare articles: 5 kg
- Perfumes: 5 bottles
- Lipstick: 10 pieces
- Shampoo: 2 kg
- Bar soap: 2 kg
- Assorted cosmetics: 1 kg
- Vitamins and supplements: 500g in total
- Wines and liquor: 2 bottles but not exceeding 1.5 liters
“Kaka uwi ko lang puro chocolates at kung ano ano pasalubong ko Wala nmang problema (I just got home with chocolates and other pasalubong items, didn’t have any issue),” a netizen said in the comments section. Other users called the post “fake news.”
The erroneous post by FB page Soon.com garnered a total of over 1,591 reactions, 504 comments and 1,178 comments.
