Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
September 11, 2002
TESSIE TELLS DOE TO PADLOCK FIRMS VIOLATING LPG SAFETY STANDARDS
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The Department of Energy (DOE) should waste no time in padlocking
at least six commercial establishments caught repeatedly
violating marketing rules and safety standards in selling
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help prevent fire-related
accidents traced to LPG leaks and stop these dealers from further
swindling the public with their sale of substandard cylinders.
Oreta issued the call following reports that at least six
establishments selling LPG have been found to have repeatedly
committed violations of DOE rules over the past two years,
despite a series of warnings against them.
The senator said that instead of treating these companies
leniently, the DOE should act tough against these repeat
violators by closing down their establishments, considering that
they have been ignoring the warning against them and have been
duping consumers for two years now.
"If these violators will not immediately settle the fines
against them amounting to millions of pesos and mend their
anti-consumer ways, the DOE should act swiftly and padlock their
establishments to teach these erring firms a bitter lesson and
send out a strong message to other companies selling LPG that
they have to stop duping consumers from hereon," Oreta said.
The DOE has named six recalcitrant dealers that have been
repeatedly found to use unbranded LPG cylinders and engaged in
other illegal activities such as under filling cylinders, selling
them without tare weight markings and using fake safety seals.
"The government cannot adopt a casual attitude in tackling
this problem," Oreta said.
"It should waste no time in stepping up its crackdown
against sellers of fake LPG and tampered LPG tanks to ensure the
safety and well-being of millions of households that use this
type of cooking gas."
Oreta said these sellers of fake or substandard LPG have been
robbing their customers of their hard earned money and exposing
them to risk with their unauthorized and tampered LPG cylinders.
According to reports, LPG leaks and explosions have been a major
cause of fires in the country. Records show that cases of fire
incidents caused by LPG tank explosion reached 22 in April alone
and another 49 in the first three months of 2002.
Last year, 206 fires were traced to fake LPG cylinders, while 268
similar incidents occurred in 2000. ///camille p. balagtas
