Almost 18 million liters of diesel and 30.121 million liters of gasoline have been marked at Jetti Petroleum’s terminal in Mariveles, Bataan as part of the Philippine government’s fuel marking program.
The latest marking under the program was conducted on February 3 after Jetti Petroleum’s payment of P345.344 million in duties and taxes, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
With the initial fuel marking activity at Jetti Petroleum’s Bataan terminal, BOC said all oil terminals/depots in Bataan have now undergone fuel marking. Other oil firms that have already complied with the fuel marking program since October 2019 are Oilink International Corp., Filoil Logistics Corp., and Petron Group.
Marking of fuel products, whether imported or manufactured in the Philippines, becomes mandatory five years after the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law took effect January 2018.
The fuel marking program has two parts: fuel marking, which started in August last year, and random field testing and confirmatory tests, which are being targeted to begin this month.
READ: Random field tests on imported fuels to start mid-Feb—BOC
Last month, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla said the government has already marked more than 2 billion liters of fuel in terminals and refineries in Batangas, Cebu, Naga, Subic, Bataan, Leyte, Davao, and Cagayan De Oro.
Other petroleum companies whose facilities have also undergone initial fuel marking are Seaoil, Pure Petroleum Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Corp., Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Chevron Philippines, Inc.
Maronilla said the fuel marking program is part of the government’s anti-smuggling efforts, noting that around P40 billion in government revenue was being lost to petroleum smuggling yearly.
Photo from BOC
