Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
With the recent
implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law and
the proposed policy on fuel marking, the Department of Energy (DOE) will be
instituting a stronger multi-agency task force to go against oil smuggling in
the country.
Energy Secretary
Alfonso G. Cusi indicated that he has already written the Department of Justice
(DOJ) for the revival of their task force, but this time, the body will have
expanded memberships so they can effectively enforce the long arm of the law
against violations of trade in the oil sector that have been depriving
government of much-needed revenues.
The revived task force,
according to the energy chief, will have memberships from the DOJ, Department
of Finance (DOF), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Customs
(BOC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI).
Cusi explained that the
involvement of the finance department and its two main agencies – BIR and BOC,
will be vital especially on the propounded fuel marking policy, a set-up that
the DOF wants improved as previous rules were only applied on tax-exempt
products but not on tax-paid fuel imports.
On DOE’s part, it also
wants to input ‘consumption’ as a component of the review process that the
reinforced task force shall be focusing on.
Cusi emphasized that by
merely looking at importation being validated by the BOC, the outcome is always
equal to the declared importation.
But when fully
validated on the ground, there’s discrepancy on the volume of consumption – as
reflected on the figures collated by the DOE.
“Taking into account
the volume of importation with duties and tax payments at Customs, they are
equal. But when the final consumption is tallied, there’s difference in the
figures because consumption is always higher than the level of declared product
importations, so the math isn’t adding up,” Cusi stressed.
He added “our main goal
is to reconcile that…that’s the reason why we also want to give teeth to the
task force, so we can go against offenders.”
On smuggling, previous
studies by the DOF indicated that the government was being stripped of R30
billion to R36 billion in revenues annually.
With both the TRAIN and
fuel marking edicts being set forth, the government is targeting to shore up
revenue collections – but in the process, it will also need to toughen up
measures against oil smuggling.
“We’re discussing with
DOF on that (fuel marking), there’s ongoing consultation on how it’s supposed
to run,” DOE Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III has emphasized.
He added that the
finance department’s proposal is to include BOC and BIR in undertaking tests;
and the DOE will just extend help on technical validation as to the quality of
fuels being shipped.
“For us in the DOE, our
main concern is to ensure that the quality of the fuel is not altered when they
reach customers or the retail pumps,” Cusi stressed.
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