Sen. Raffy Tulfo. (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Raffy Tulfo believes that smuggled fuel seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) were resold.
BOC special agent Anthony Escandor, during the Senate committee on energy meeting with concerned agencies on Thursday, reported that they seized a total of 2.1 million liters of fuel.
Tulfo, panel chairperson, asked what the agency did with the seized fuel.
READ: BOC pushing for continued fuel marking
“We have already disposed of 36,750 liters ng (of) diesel na dinonate po namin sa (that we donated to the) Philippine Coast Guard,” Escandor replied.
“Meron pa po kaming (We also have) 10,669 liters of diesel that was for official use po,” he said.
Tulfo then lamented the status of the remaining seized fuel.
“Anong nangyari doon sa iba? Hindi mo ako masagot nang deretso. Sabi mo under seizure proceeding pa rin. Ang tagal naman. Akala ko ba na-seize na. Nasa inyo na. Nasaan ‘yun? Nasaan n’yo ini-store?” the senator pressed.
(What happened to the remaining fuel? You cannot answer me directly. You said those are still under seizure proceedings. It is quite long. I thought those were already seized. Those fuel are in your hands. Where are those? Where did you store it?)
Escandor said that he will provide an update to Tulfo as he does not have “information on the matter.”
Tulfo then said: “Ako, sagot ko: ibinenta ulit. Sineize and then ibinenta sa mas murang halaga. Kanino ibinenta? Alam n’yo naman siguro ‘yun kung kanino.”
(My answer: it was sold again. It was seized then sold again at a cheaper price. To whom was it sold to? You already know who.)
“Kaya ‘wag na tayong maglokohan dito. Kaya for me, itigil na natin ‘tong sa SGS na ‘to, ’tong mga fuel marking na ‘to. Nagsasayang tayo ng pera,” he added.
(Let us not fool around here. For me, let us stop this SGS, this fuel marking. We are just wasting our money.)
The Philippine government signed a contract with SGS Philippines Inc. and Switzerland-based SICPA SA for the rollout of a fuel marking program.
The program aims to curb oil smuggling.