Revenues collected by the government from duties and taxes slapped on fuel has nearly reached the P100 billion mark, since it started to implement its fuel marking program.
Data shared by Carlos Dominguez, Department of Finance secretary, to finance reporters yesterday showed the government has marked close to 11.2 billion liters of fuel, translating to P99.8 billion in duties and taxes collected from September 2019 to August 12, 2020.
Majority or three-fourths of fuel marked so far by the government is in Luzon, while 20 percent and 5 percent are in Mindanao and Visayas, respectively.
In terms of fuel type, more than 62 percent is accounted for by diesel, 37 percent by gasoline, with the remaining minimal share taken by kerosene.
Participating companies include Petron, Shell, Unioil, Chevron, Seaoil Corp., Phoenix Petroleum, Insular Oil, Total-Filoil, Jetti, PTT, Filoil Logistics, Marubeni, Micro Dragon, Warbucks, High Glory Subic, Goldenshare, ERA1 Petroleum, SL Harbour, SL Gas, and Jadelink.
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.
Random field testing shall be conducted by Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, 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.
