I am off to Mindanao for Christmas, and since I quite fancy myself as a cook I thought I would subject K's relations to a home made Christmas pudding and a home made Christmas cake and some mince pies. Is there likely to be an air travel / Customs problem?
I don't think bought packaged foodstuffs should cause an issue. I think it's generally unpackaged meats (i.e. wrapped in a bit of paper) and whole fruits that customs pay attention to.
I've thought about taking foodstuff's in particularly some Indian spices that I can't get easily in the markets that I know of over there, but I always held back because of the possible ambiguity at Philippine customs. I have never had anything checked in the Phils but I never want to take the chance, in this case they only have to decide that it's a hash cake albeit irrationally and without any reason to make your life miserable for a short or possibly long period of time. I work on the 'don't give them an excuse' principle.
I took a big birthday cake to Dubai that my mother made for the loved ones 40th Birthday, didn't give it any thought at the time. If you were caught taking foodstuffs into the Philippines I'm sure a little dip in the wallet would smooth things over
On another thread, you said you were making Christmas Pudding and I did wonder if home made products would be allowed into the Philippines. As an avid watcher of Border Security (Australian version) on YouTube I know there are strict guidelines on meat and vegetable products. If it is fresh or home-made it is probably not even worth trying to take into the country. With vegetable products there is a danger that it could introduce foreign flora that could wreak havoc. With fresh meat there is danger of infection. With home-made products, border officials how no way of assessing the product! I am taking Xmas Pud, some custard powder and mince pies. All pre-packed items bought at Tesco. I will declare them of course, so I don't foresee any problem.
I would not declare anything as that is almost demanding that you be searched, in the case of taking foodstuff's in I would play dumb, I don't remember specific declarations on foodstuffs but I could just have a poor memory.
Many countries have on-the-spot fines if you try to bring in foodstuffs that are prohibited and not declared. If you declare and it is prohibited there is usually no fine but they will confiscate and dispose of the items (at no charge) I am not sure what the Philippines regulations are on imported food but I will declare if I am required to do so. Doing otherwise will only arouse suspicion. X-Rays of baggage can easily determine if items contain organic matter or not. Organic matter shows up as a different colour! I don't know if The Philippines has such sophisticated x-ray equipment of course.
On arrival... I doubt it, bags usually arrive at the carousel pretty quick and you can often hear the blokes climbing around down below unblocking the conveyor, I expect they go straight from offloaded wire cage to the belt at arrivals. Of course all that knowledge is out of date now as you will be going through Terminal 3, pain in the backside that, puts me three miles further from home on arrival, might actually ask Dren to pick me up next time.
When I arrived back in the UK from Panama last week (I flew via Amsterdam), there were four customs officials waiting in the baggage reclamation area, normally the airport has no customs staff on duty. They looked like they meant business! I picked up my case from the baggage conveyer, and before I could walk more than a few steps I was approached by one of them. "Where have you travelled from Sir... OK, follow me... Place your bag on the table Sir". I followed the customs official into an empty side room and placed my bag on the table, thinking perhaps they suspected me of being a Colombian drug mule. "Do you have any Alcohol or Cigarettes in this bag Sir?.. No?... OK, you can go Sir, Thanks for your help". They didn't even bother looking inside my bag.
I wouldn't hesitate taking cake or pudding over to Phils. I have never been checked on arrival there but if you were unlucky enough to be searched and there was a problem, having the food mentioned taken away would not be a big problem.
Apparently, terminal 3 does have x-ray equipment... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninoy_Aquino_International_Airport#Terminal_3
