The Bureau of Customs (BOC) ordered Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (PSPC) to pay the first installment of its Php3.49 billion back taxes for its past alkylate importations on or before December 27.
In a letter to new PSPC President Lorelie Osial, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero stated that the multinational oil giant’s accreditation could be suspended if it fails to pay.
Guerrero argued that the possible suspension on the country’s second largest oil firm “was not whimsically raised nor is the same a threat,” but rather that Customs was doing its job in implementing existing rules and regulations in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to dissolve the Temporary Restraining Order it had issued to Shell.
Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez praised the BOC for the development, saying
that demanding tax payments on Shell’s alkylate imports “levels the playing field” as other oil companies have been paying the same on their shipments of the product.