Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) — Senator Raffy Tulfo on Thursday floated the idea of removing the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as implementer of the government’s fuel marking program.
He raised the point as he grilled a BOC representative during a Senate committee on energy consultative meeting on the program and the bureau’s poor performance in going after oil smugglers.
“Paano mapagkakatiwalaan ang Customs kapag tinuloy natin itong fuel marking? Siguro labas na ang Customs. I would suggest pag-aaralan ko na hindi na kasama ang Customs,” Tulfo said.
[Translation: How can Customs be trusted if the fuel marking program is continued? Perhaps, Customs should be removed as an implementer. I’ll study this possibility.]
During the meeting, Tulfo demanded an explanation from BOC special agent II Anthony Escandor on why the bureau filed a case against just one out of over 7,000 violators.
He also listed supposedly known oil smugglers and questioned Escandor when he said he didn’t recognize any of the names mentioned.
Tuflo said the alleged smugglers were from Mariveles in Bataan, Batangas, Sariaya, and Navotas.
However, Tulfo later apologized to Escandor, saying the BOC should have sent a higher-ranking official to the meeting.
“It’s beyond your pay grade,” the senator said. “It should have been your commissioner or deputy commissioner, but they sent you to me at alam nila kasi magigisa sila kaya ikaw ang pinambala sa kanyon [because they know they will be grilled, so you’re here instead].”
Fuel marking involves injecting chemical identifiers into tax-paid oil products to determine a fuel bundle’s compliance to corresponding taxes.
The BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue carry out the program under the TRAIN law to prevent the smuggling of petroleum products.
