Duties, taxes from fuel marking hit ₧280.48 billion

ALMOST two years since the start of the fuel marking program, the government has so far collected P280.48 billion in duties and taxes.

The government has injected fuel markers on 28.8 billion liters of fuel from September 2019 to August 26 this year, according to data from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) submitted to the Department of Finance last Monday.

In the same period, the BOC raked in P250.7 billion in duties and taxes from the fuel marking program. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax haul from the fuel marking program reached P29.78 billion from December 2019 to July 22 this year.

Petron Corp. still had the biggest volume of marked fuel, cornering 23 percent or 6.58 billion liters out of the total. By fuel type, diesel comprised the biggest chunk of marked fuel at 60.9 percent or P17.55 billion liters. This was followed by gasoline (38.6 percent or 11.1 billion liters), and kerosene (0.5 percent or 153 million liters).

Per region, Luzon got the lion’s share of marked fuel, with 21.14 billion liters or 73.4 percent of the total. Next to Luzon is Mindanao with 6.1 billion liters or 21.2 percent and Visayas with 1.56 billion liters or 5.4 percent.

Trailing Petron in the list of 25 participating companies are: Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with 5.45 billion liters; Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. (2.99 billion liters); Seaoil Philippines Inc. (2.31 billion liters); and, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. (2.29 billion liters).

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has acknowledged that the fuel marking program has helped lower smuggling. The lawmaker noted that the government lost P357 billion due to fuel smuggling from 2010 to 2019.

However, Salceda said foregone revenues are still rising as Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law, raised taxes on fuel products in 2018.

Under the Train law, petroleum products that are refined, manufactured, or imported to the Philippines such as, but not limited to, unleaded premium gasoline, kerosene, and diesel shall be marked by an official marking agent after payment of taxes and duties.

The fuel-marking program was launched with the aim of halting illegal importation, manufacturing, and other fraudulent activities relating to the use and sale of petroleum products in the country.

Fuel marking makes use of a unique chemical marker that can be embedded at a molecular level in petroleum products—gasoline, diesel, and kerosene—thereby enabling authorities to test, identify and distinguish petroleum products with paid excise taxes.