THE government earned P367.26 billion from marking fuel with paid excise taxes since the program started more than two years ago.
Data submitted to the Department of Finance showed the Bureau of Customs raked in P337.442 billion in duties and taxes from September 2019 until February 10 this year.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P29.81 billion from December 2019 to October 28, 2021.
Total volume marked so far reached P36.69 billion liters.
Petron Corp. had the biggest volume of marked fuel among oil companies that participated in the program, with P8.92 billion liters or 24.3 percent of the total.
Based on fuel type, diesel comprised the bulk of marked fuel at 22.26 billion liters or 61 percent. This is followed by gasoline and kerosene at 14.23 billion liters and 193.1 million liters.
Per region, most of the marked fuel was in Luzon at 26.95 billion liters. Mindanao had 7.74 billion liters while Visayas had 2 billion liters.
Trailing Petron in the list of 27 participating companies are Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with 6.64 billion liters; Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. (3.79 billion liters); Insular Oil Corp. (3.09 billion liters); and, Seaoil Philippines Inc. (2.91 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. Bernadette D. Nicolas
Image credits: Business Mirror file photo