Mandaue market raid yields P250K worth of refilled butane canisters

Photo courtesy of Atty. Russ Mark Gamallo

AN ESTIMATED P250,000 worth of butane canisters were confiscated from three stores in the new Mandaue City Public Market at past 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23.

The operation was conducted by the operatives of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-7) in cooperation with the Department of Energy in Central Visayas (DOE-7).

DOE Legal Officer Russ Mark Gamallo said that they recovered about 10,000 canisters of butane from the three stores, half of which are filled with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Gamallo said that refilling butane canisters with LPG poses grave danger to consumers because LPG is not suited to be stored in butane canisters.

“The canisters are not designed to store LPG. Naa nay prescribed nga thickness sa butanganan. Dili na magsilbi nga mga nipis nga tin canisters (There is a prescribed thickness for LPG containers. The tin canisters are too thin for that purpose),” said Gamallo.

The refilled butane canisters is made up of 40 percent butane and 60 percent propane, which makes the fuel create high pressure.
According to Gamallo, the selling of LPG-filled butane canisters has been very rampant in Mandaue City despite a city ordinance prohibiting it.

He said that CIDG has placed the public market under surveilance since the third week of May.

“The canisters were placed in plain view so wala na nagkinahanglan og (they did not need a) search warrant,” said Gamallo.
The stores where the canisters were seized were owned Colyn Bonggo, Rosalyn Morangorin and Rudy Lopez, who are vendors in the public market.

Bonggo, Morangorin and Lopez are currently detained in CIDG detention cell while waiting for charges to be filed against them today, May 24.

Gamallo said that the arrested individuals would be facing charges for illegal distribution of petroleum products.

If proven guilty, the arrested persons will be fined with P20,000 to P50,000 or an imprisonment of two to five years.