Customs files charges against gasoline station owner, others

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has filed charges against the owner of a gasoline station in Castillejos, Zambales and several accomplices for selling 14,000 liters of biodiesel fuel that were illegally brought out of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) without paying taxes and duties.

Charged before the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor of the Department of Justice in Manila for violation of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines were Araceli Banaag, owner of BNW Gas Station located at the National Highway, Del Pilar, Castillejos, Zambales, and other still unidentified accomplices.

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said the case stemmed from the seizure proceedings involving tax-free fuel originally intended for the Freeport zones but which was brought out of the Subic Port without the payment of taxes and duties.

The office of the BOC’s Run-After-The-Smugglers (RATS) team reported that the now defunct Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group’s Task Force Fuel (PASG-TFF) had received information that the subject fuel was taken out of the SBFZ without securing appropriate clearances, including the payment of taxes and duties.  

The fuel was later traced to have been delivered to the BNW Gas Station prompting the PASG-TFF to conduct an operation to determine if the fuel being sold there had been marked with a special marking substance which is used to distinguish whether a particular batch of fuel is duty and tax exempt or not.

As a rule, explained Alvarez, marked fuel can only be used by an entity afforded such incentive. Selling the same fuel to a third party is illegal.

The Customs chief said that the fuel in question was subjected to a fuel marking test by a laboratory analyst from SGS Philippines, Inc. (SGS), an accredited service provider for the Department of Finance’s program on the mandatory marking of imported tax- and duty- exempt kerosene and diesel oils.

SGS is responsible for adding a substance called fuel Marker PH03, on duty and tax exempt fuel which are intended for the exclusive use of suppliers doing business in freeport zones like the SBFZ.

The positive test result on the fuel bought from BNW Gas Station confirmed that the PH03 marker was present in the diesel sold by said gas station and proved that the fuel’s withdrawal from the SBFZ did not go through the legal process and did not pay the corresponding duties and taxes, thus, prompting the authorities to file the appropriate charges.