MANILA, Philippines—There are “no more big-time oil smugglers in the country today,” a high Bureau of Customs official declared at a media forum Thursday, claiming that large-scale oil smuggling was a “thing of the past.”
Fernandino Tuazon, director of the BOC’s Intelligence and Investigation Service admitted, however, at the Balitaan sa Aloha media forum in Manila that an undisclosed number of people were still engaged in small-time oil smuggling albeit in many places.
“The sale of smuggled petroleum products continues, mainly in the Central Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Bataan and Zambales due to their proximity to the Subic Freeport,” he said, referring to what is allegedly the main port of entry of smuggled oil sold nationwide.
An undisclosed number of “small gasoline stations” in these areas are selling smuggled oil products, according to Tuazon.
The country’s southernmost provinces—Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Basilan—are also being closely monitored by the bureau because of the sale of smuggled oil products there, he said.
He said that during the past 12 months, customs personnel seized only 26,900 liters of smuggled oil.
“That’s negligible compared to some 10 million liters one vessel can carry,” he pointed out.
The BOC, he said, was also closely monitoring a “handful of ports which cater to oil importations.”
He was referring to Limay, Bataan, which is being used by Petron; Mariveles (also in Bataan), used by Unioil, Total and Liquigas; Batangas City, used by Shell and Chevron; Davao City, used by Phoenix; as well as the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port, which are used by Eastern Petroleum, flying V and some small players.
Tuazon told reporters that he disagreed with Ramon Ang, chair of Petron Corp., the nation’s top oil refiner, who had told the Inquirer that smuggled oil products “now account for at least a third of the total volume sold in the market.”
“It’s not true,” said Tuazon, who echoed Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon’s statement that “there’s oil smuggling here, but the problem is not rampant.”
Tuazon disputed published reports calling the Philippines the “smuggling capital of Asia.” “That claim is wrong. Customs critics can’t support that with facts and figures,” he said.
He said “smuggling is a problem of all customs administrations worldwide, not just in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Asia-Pacific, European Union or North America. Even the US and other advanced economies face bigger smuggling-related problems.”