THE government so far collected P315.64 billion in duties and taxes through the fuel-marking program it began more than 25 months ago.
As of November 11 this year, the Bureau of Customs raked in P285.83 billion while the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax haul hit P29.81 billion, according to latest data submitted to the Department of Finance.
The total volume marked from September 2019 until November 12 has reached 32.07 billion liters.
Petron Corp. still cornered the lion’s share of volume of marked fuel at 23.67 percent or 7.59 billion liters of the total.
By fuel type, diesel comprised the biggest chunk of marked fuel at 61.05 percent or 19.58 billion liters. This was followed by gasoline (38.42 percent or 12.32 billion liters) and kerosene (0.54 percent or 171.8 million liters).
Most of the marked fuel was in Luzon, with 73.36 percent or 23.52 billion liters of the total. Next to Luzon is Mindanao with 21.15 percent or 6.78 billion liters and Visayas with 5.49 percent or 1.76 billion liters.
Trailing Petron in the list of 26 participating companies are: Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with 5.93 billion liters; Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. (3.29 billion liters); Insular Oil Corp. (2.61 billion liters); and, Seaoil Philippines Inc. (2.55 billion liters).
The fuel-marking program was launched with the aim of halting illegal importation, manufacturing and other fraudulent activities relating to the use and sale of petroleum products in the country.
Fuel marking makes use of a unique chemical marker that can be embedded at a molecular level in petroleum products—gasoline, diesel and kerosene—thereby enabling authorities to test, identify and distinguish petroleum products with paid excise taxes.