- Fuel marking collections hit P 439.4 billion to date, according to the Philippine Department of Finance
- Bureau of Customs collected P 409.6 billion and Bureau of Internal Revenue, P 29.8 billion
- Diesel yielded the biggest volume at 25.5 billion liters
- Petron Corp. produced the highest volume of tax-paid oil at 10.3 billion liters to date
Fuel marking collections hit P 439.4 billion to date, according to the Philippine Department of Finance on June 6.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said 42.1 billion liters of oil were fuel marked from September 2019 to May 2022, while citing a report of the Bureau of Customs (BOC). Dominguez said the huge revenue collection from oil meant that smuggling was on the decline.
Fuel marking, which involves injecting chemical identifiers into tax-paid oil products, is being carried out under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law to curb smuggling of petroleum products.
The chemical marker being injected into diesel, gasoline, and kerosene signified payments of correct tax dues.
Since the Philippines is a net oil importer, the BOC generated the bulk of tax revenues, amounting to P409.6 billion to date. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), meanwhile, collected P29.8 billion in oil taxes.
Per fuel type, diesel yielded the biggest volume at 25.5 billion liters. In terms of location, Luzon traded the largest volume at over 31 billion liters.
Among the 28 oil companies participating in the fuel marking program, Petron Corporation produced the highest volume of tax-paid oil at 10.3 billion liters to date.
A factor was expensive global oil prices driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that inflated the import bill.
Before fuel marking was implemented under the TRAIN Act, government estimates had shown that oil smuggling resulted in foregone tax revenues equivalent to over half of the annual duties and taxes being collected by BOC and the BIR, or about P27 to 44 billion annually, before the Duterte administration took over in 2016.
