Gov’t collects P367 B from fuel marking program

The government has generated more than P367 billion in taxes by marking petroleum products, strengthening efforts to collect from as many local and imported fuel as possible.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III yesterday said the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have raised P367.26 billion in revenues as of Feb. 11 through the fuel marking program.

Customs accounted for nearly 92 percent of the collection at P337.44 billion, while the BIR posted no changes since the last update at P29.81 billion.

Based on records, a total of 36.68 billion liters of fuel were marked since Sept. 2019. Diesel made up about 61 percent of the volume at 22.26 billion liters, while gasoline and kerosene combined for the remainder at 14.23 billion liters and 193.11 million liters, respectively.

Oil firms operating in Luzon contributed over 73 percent of the marked fuel at 26.95 billion liters. Industry players in Mindanao and Visayas comprised the remaining 27 percent, at 7.74 billion liters and two billion liters, respectively.

Petron Corp. improved its position as the largest contributor to marked petroleum products, with close to a fourth of the volume at 8.92 billion liters.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. came in second and third, with posted volumes of 6.64 billion liters and 3.79 billion liters, respectively.

Insular Oil Corp. and Seaoil Philippines Inc. rounded up the leading firms for fuel marking, with Insular Oil recording 3.09 billion liters and Seaoil posting 2.91 billion liters.

Data gathered by The STAR showed that the value of smuggled goods almost tripled to a record P28.43 billion last year, from P10.63 billion in 2020. From this, Customs seized P6.72 million in illicit fuel through a mix of anti-smuggling efforts, including fuel marking.