MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) raised P231 billion from the government’s fuel marking program that aims to curb smuggling of petroleum products.
Latest data from the BOC showed that the agency marked 17.63 billion liters of petroleum products from January to Dec.15, equivalent to an estimated P230.89 billion.
Fuel marking, which involves injecting chemical identifiers into tax-paid oil products, is being carried out under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law to curb smuggling of petroleum products.
The BOC, alongside the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), uses a chemical identifier to determine whether a fuel bundle complied with the corresponding taxes.
If a fuel contains less than 95 percent of the marker, its owner will be ordered to pay the duties first and then settle the penalties.
Petroleum products that are unmarked, with diluted markers, or have counterfeit fuel markers shall be subject to duties and taxes, inclusive of the appropriate fines and penalties.
The BOC looks into the shipments of fuel traders, while the BIR monitors the output of local refiners.
The Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, on the other hand, permits goods that are subject to forfeiture proceedings to be donated to another agency, upon the approval of the Department of Finance.