The government has marked nearly 2.5 billion liters of fuel under the fuel marking scheme, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary, said in a Viber message over the weekend 1.787 billion liters of fuel have been marked by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), while 700 million liters by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Dominguez cited a report of the BOC which said participating companies include Unioil, Chevron, Phoenix Petroleum, Seaoil, Shell, Insular Oil, Filoil Energy, PTT, Petron, and Warbucks Industries Inc.
The BOC said marking activities were held recently, while scheduled for marking today are Unioil Batangas and Chevron.
The fuel marking activity started in October last year.
By February 3, testing of fuel in the retail side as well as enforcement actions will commence. Gasoline, diesel and kerosene found to be unmarked will be seized, and penalties will be imposed against those storing, transporting, importing or peddling unmarked fuel.
Early last year, the government said it plans to “mark” more than 15 billion liters of fuel.
The fuel marking program is mandated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law to curb oil smuggling and misdeclaration of petroleum products in the country, and increase revenue collection from taxable imported and locally refined petroleum products.
The program uses an official fuel marker, a unique chemical marker detectable at a molecular level, allowing for authorities to test, identify, and distinguish petroleum products with paid excise taxes in the market from those without.
After a three-month “flush-out period,” within which all downstream fuels are expected to have been marked, random field testing shall be conducted by BOC, the BIR and the fuel marking provider on depots, tank trucks and retail stations to determine the presence and/or dilution level of the fuel marker on petroleum products subject to marking.
Fuels found to be unmarked or with marker levels below the prescribed dilution level shall be immediately subjected to confirmatory testing in an accredited testing facility of the fuel marking provider.
The fuel marking program is expected to plug an estimated P27 billion to P44 billion annual revenue losses.
