Gov’t to put up fuel marking and monitoring system in 2018

The government intends to put in place a fuel and marking and monitoring system by the second half of next year to address oil smuggling.

While the system is not yet final, the Department of Finance (DOF) said it will be implemented under the proposed tax reform program of the administration—now pending at the Senate.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III noted the government must decide on what kind of fuel marking service it would implement in relation to the offers it has so far received from the private sector.

“I said let's just put it through ICC (Investment Coordination Committee). We will have a meeting on the 6th [of December] anyway. So, whether or not it is needed, we will just put it before them. Anyway there is no controversy over that,” Dominguez said.

The marking and monitoring system will require personnel from the Bureaus of Internal Revenue and of Customs to undergo training.

For her part, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the terms of reference for the system is nearly complete, and would be available by the end of the month and that the procurement process is expected to start by December.

Tionko noted the procurement is expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2017, and the government would like to have the system implemented in the second half.

Last week, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi called on Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to reactivate the DOE-DOJ Task Force and check on supposed unreasonable prices of petroleum products. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News