NBI-7 to go after illegal refilling stations

These are samples of the butane canisters seized in another unregistered gas refilling station in Barangay Cogon Pardo in Cebu City on Monday, June 14, 2021. | contributed photo

Cebu City, Philippines—The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) said it will continue running after illegal refilling stations of butane canisters in Cebu.

NBI made the statement following the seizure of butane canisters in another unregistered gas refilling station in Barangay Cogon Pardo here on Monday, June 14, 2021, which resulted to the arrest of the owner and its machine operator.

NBI-7 Director Rennan Augstus Oliva said the operation stemmed from a complaint filed by the residents living near the station.

“Ang atong gipang-dakop katong dili registered. Ang purpose ana, i-parehistro na dapat, ipa-register na for safety concerns kay peligro man na. Ilang gipamaligya perting tayauna, very dangerous. ” said Oliva,  adding that during the operation, they noticed some canisters were already  leaking.

(We are going after those that are not registered. The purpose of this is to urge them to register for safety concerns because this is dangerous. The cans they were selling were very rusty, very dangerous.)

Oliva said that once there is a leak in the canister, it could easily catch a fire since it is highly flammable.

“Daghan kaayong mga sunog karon in which most of them were attributed to the substandard butane canisters,” he said.

(There are a lot of fire incidents in which most of them were attributed to the substandard butane canisters.)

Lawyer Wenceslao Galendez Jr., supervising agent of the NBI-7, for his part, disclosed that  the said refilling station could produce at least 1,000 canisters in a day. They have been operating for about seven months already.

Galendez said the illegal refilling station supplies canisters to the south area going to Talisay City. Each canister costs P20, cheaper than those sold in registered or legal refilling stations.

“Imagine, every household can consume one canister in a day, because that is used three times a day. So they put at risk 1,000  households in a day. Imagine how wide their market is. It isn’t fit for refilling. These canisters should already be disposed,” said Galendez.

Out of the three operations conducted against  illegal refilling stations this year, Oliva said this was the worst, citing that the quality of the canisters was very bad.

“Naa mi gi-monitor uban pod, amo pa nang tan-awon kon licensed ba or dili. I-coordinate pa na. That will follow kay di ta mo-undang ani nga campaign kay system man gud ni sa community ang atong gi-istoryahan. Kay if they are allowed to operate, peligro sab ang lugar. Mostly, these are residential areas baya, just like this,” said Oliva.

(We are monitoring other, we are checking if they are registered or not. We will still coordinate about that. That will follow because we won’t stop with our campaign because it’s a system in the community we are talking about. If they are allowed to operate, the place becomes dangerous. Mostly, these are residential areas, just like this.)

NBI-7 seized the canisters, two refilling machines, and tank cylinders, with an estimated value of P1 million.

The arrested individuals were accused for the violation of Sec.2 in relation for Sec.3 of B.P. 33 as amended by P.D. 1865 with a recommended bail of P30,000 each.

Based on the list of registered refilling stations of LPG released by the Department of Energy (DOE), as per request of the NBI, only seven are registered as of March 1, 2021 in Cebu: two each in Mandaue and Naga, and one each in Cebu City, Liloan, and Compostela.

/bmjo