MANILA: The Customs bureau will go ahead with a fuel-marking scheme as part of an initiative to curtail smuggling.
Oil companies have raised no opposition to the fuel-marking scheme, but asked for the strict and effective enforcement of the program.
At least two companies have expressed interest to provide the technology for the marking of imported fuel, Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina told reporters on the sidelines of the Finance department’s Anniversary Luncheon in Manila City yesterday.
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) will meet with the companies “probably next week,” added Mr. Lina, who declined to identify the prospective bidders.
The scheme involves using markers or dyes on both tax-exempt shipments and locally-processed fuel products. It would cost importers five to seven centavos for every liter of fuel marked, Mr. Lina said.
The commissioner earlier noted that fuel marking could generate the government an additional $300 million in revenue, more than enough to offset the cost of implementation estimated around $25 million.
The bureau is expected to collect P498.67 billion this year, a 14% increase from its previous target of P436.59 billion and 36% over its P367.5-billion actual collection in 2015.
The BoC has failed to hit its full-year targets for the last seven years. The bureau last realized its revenue goal in 2008, when actual collection exceeded the P254.5 billion target by P2.3 billion.
Mr. Lina noted that oil companies have raised no opposition to the fuel-marking scheme, but asked for the strict and effective enforcement of the program.
The Customs bureau implemented fuel marking under Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales. It tapped Swiss inspection services provider Societe Generale de Surveillance for the project in late 2008.
