Three technology-providers have expressed interest to participate in the bidding for a fuel marking scheme that aims to curb smuggling, the Bureau of Customs said Tuesday.
“It will undergo bidding. We can not just appoint. There are about two to three interested companies,” Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina told reporters during the sidelines of the Finance Department’s 119th anniversary celebration in Manila.
Lina said he would meet with the interested bidders next week. He declined to name the companies.
He said Customs planned to charge about P0.05 to P0.07 per liter of oil for the marking scheme.
Earlier, Lina said the agency was expecting to generate around $300 million from the proposed markings on oil products.
The agency wants to end the smuggling of fuel products by a putting mark on every oil product.
The agency’s latest version of fuel-marking, which started in the late 2008, will include products exempted from the payment of duties.
Lina said he wanted to curb smuggling of oil products by including tax exempted products and those process locally.
“If they don’t want to load without markings, it means they are smuggled,” said Lina.
He said even local refineries would not be exempted in the proposed fuel-marking system.
Customs estimated that the fuel marking scheme would cost $25 million against revenues of $300 million.
The government, based on the estimates of oil companies, loses around $500 million or P20 billion to P30 billion annually in foregone revenues due to smuggling.
“So if we are given data on the number of number of liters or volume paid against the consumption figures, we will wonder. It is our duty to check on smuggled goods,” he said.
Customs collections in 2015 fell 16 percent short of the target to P366.9 billion following the slump in oil prices.
