Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi asked oil industry players to empty first their 2018 oil inventories before applying the second round of the excise tax on petroleum products in 2019.
The Energy Department, in close coordination with the Finance Department, the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, devised a mechanism to closely monitor existing oil inventories with the implementation of the second tranche of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law today.
“We are ready to implement the second tranche of Train, which imposes additional excise taxes to various commodities like petroleum products by New Year,” Cusi said.
“We have to ensure the proper implementation of the second tranche of Train, because the new collection will be used to support our ‘Build Build Build’ programs, free tuition fee and medical assistance for our kababayans,” he said.
“With the imposition of the additional excise taxes, we are stringently looking at the 2018 inventories of oil companies in order to protect consumers from unjust trading and profiteering once the second tranche is operationalized,” Cusi said.
“The sale of old stocks, referring to the remaining balance of the inventory ending 31 December 2018, which was not covered by the second tranche of excise taxes should not be collected from the consumers. Otherwise, it would be a violation of the law- not only administrative penalties like closure of the establishment will be imposed, but also the criminal penalty of large scale estafa,” the energy chief said.
“We are confident that everyone will cooperate so that we will all have a prosperous new year for 2019,” Cusi said.
He said the Energy Department, together with its partners and stakeholders, provided mitigating measures to help consumers cope with the effects of Train law during its first implementation, such as fuel discounts through the corporate social responsibility and promotional programs, Pantawid Pasada, energy efficiency tips, rigorous monitoring of gas stations to ensure good quality and right quantity of petroleum products.