The government is eyeing to continue its fuel marking scheme even with an enhanced community quarantine imposed on Luzon, as fuel remains exempted from restrictions, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
“With fuel being exempt from movement restrictions, we would like to continue fuel marking,” Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary, told reporters via Viber last Sunday
Dominguez said that the marking activities can be continued, with teams already on the ground in various areas.
“The proposal of BOC is to issue exemption on the movement of the marker handlers and to request Coast Guard assistance in the transport,” Dominguez said.
In a statement yesterday, the DOF said the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have marked a total of 4.88 billion liters of taxable fuel as of February 28.
The government’s first nationwide implementation of a Fuel Marking Program has been ongoing since August 2 last year.
Fuel marking is mandated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act as a measure against smuggling of petroleum products.
It is done after the taxes are paid on refined and imported gasoline, diesel and kerosene.
To date, all import terminals and refineries of various oil companies nationwide comply with the marking requirement of the program, the BOC said in its report to Dominguez.
BOC data showed that of the country’s consumption of imported fuel last year, gasoline accounted for 30.09 percent and diesel, 50.72 percent.
Of the locally refined petroleum in 2019, the BIR said gasoline accounted for 33.03 percent and diesel, 50.4 percent.
After all taxable fuel are injected with the official marker, the BOC and the BIR will begin random field testing to determine if the fuel being stored, transported or sold in the retail market are marked, which means that taxes have been paid on these products.
The DOF said 20 mobile analyzers will be deployed across the country to facilitate the random field testing on stored and transported fuel and those sold in 11,464 gas stations nationwide.
