Government fuel marking program continues

MANILA, Philippines — The government has continued to infuse fuel products with markers this month, ensuring the inflow of revenues which can help beef up state coffers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported yesterday.

Based on an infographic shared by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the total volume of fuel products tagged under the Fuel Marking Program has reached 6.87 billion liters from September 2019 to April 15.

This is 420 million liters higher than the volume reported by the DOF as of April 2, which was at 6.45 billion liters.

Of the total volume, the DOF said Luzon accounted for 75 percent, five percent from Visayas and 20 percent from Mindanao.

The DOF said 20 oil companies in the country are compliant with the fuel marking program as of April 15.

In a text message to reporters, Dominguez said the continued implementation of the fuel marking program is helping the government generate revenues which can be used for COVID-19 response measures.

This comes at a time when the government is having difficulty in raising tax revenues due to the disruption caused by the contagion and the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and other parts of the country.

“Definitely the fuel marking program as part of our tax reform is having a positive effect on our revenues and therefore on our ability to withstand the ill effects of the contagion,” Dominguez said.

To ensure sufficient supply of oil, fuel products were exempted from movement restrictions under the community quarantine measures imposed by the government. The DOF said there is a need to continue the implementation of the fuel marking program.

Under the program, petroleum products for domestic consumption with proof of payment of taxes will be injected by markers.

Through this program, the government seeks to curb oil smuggling and misdeclaration of petroleum products, and to increase revenue collection from taxable imported and locally refined petroleum products.

The DOF estimates that the government loses as much as P40 billion annually due to oil smuggling. The DOF earlier said the government wants to plug at least half of this or P20 billion through fuel marking.