The Department of Energy issued show cause orders to six retail stations of Petron Corp. to explain why they implemented the higher excise tax earlier than the anticipated depletion of stocks by the middle of the month or early February.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the letters were dispatched Thursday, along with the inspection team from the department.
Fuentebella said the oil companies, including Petron, were required to report their compliance to the second tranche of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law which took effect on Jan. 1, 2019.
“In the show cause order, they have five days from receipt of the show cause to reply to us,” Fuentebella said.
Petron said it was cooperating with DoE in ensuring fair and correct implementation of the second tranche of Train law.
“We reported to DoE the list of Petron stations which implemented the additional excise taxes on Jan. 2. These included stations with low storage capacity which reflected the new prices after their old inventories were depleted. These stations are being supplied from our refinery in Bataan where collection of new excise taxes by the government started 12:01 a.m., Jan. 1, 2019,” Petron said.