Tankers Impounded in Philippines Over Illegal Fuel Transfer

Amid an intensified crackdown against the illegal transfer of fuel in the Philippines, two tankers, carrying 370,000 litres of smuggled fuel worth over PHP 20 million ($343,000), were confiscated by the Philippines Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Navotas City in September. One month later, another tanker was caught in the act of transferring smuggled fuel into four lorries at the Port of Batangas.

In both cases, subsequent fuel marking tests confirmed that the product did not carry the required molecular markers indicating payment of duties and taxes.

Prior to the implementation of the fuel marking programme in 2019, the Philippines government estimated it would lose PHP 20-40 billion ($343 million) per year to fuel smuggling. Whereas 2018 fuel tax and duty revenues amounted to just PHP 52 billion, between 2019 and 2023 the government was able to collect an average of PHP 200 billion per year.

As of November 2024, BOC1 reported that a total of 89.35 billion litres of fuel have been successfully marked, generating PHP 1.028 trillion in taxes ($ 17 billion), with PHP 204.18 billion collected in 2024 alone.