Philippines’ Bureau of Customs to build petroleum inventory system

The Philippines’ Aquino government has allocated Php500 million (US$11.4 million) for the Bureau of Customs (BOC) so that it can acquire high-technology solutions to fight the rampant smuggling of petroleum and other imports. But in the proposed General Appropriations Act of 2012, the total amount needed by the BOC IS Php1.816 trillion (US$42 million), which would be used to build a Petroleum Inventory System and purchase an Online X-ray Imaging System. When operational, the system would enable the BOC to closely monitor all oil imports. The Bureau gets 17% of its annual revenue collection from import taxes. The BOC has filed several smuggling cases against seven oil importers over the last 15 months, and the combined total involved is Php44.33 billion(US$1.02 billion). Smuggling cases have been filed against Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petronas Energy Philippines Inc., Cross Country Oil & Petroleum Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., Jetti Petroleum Inc., Oilink International Corp. and Filpride Resources Inc. (September 26, 2011)