Is Mayor Michael Rama endorsing LPG–refilled butane canisters and butane stoves?
He scoffed at the idea yesterday, saying he would never put the lives of people in danger that way.
A photo of a stove and canister labeled with Rama’s photo, slogan and green-and-yellow campaign colors was shown to reporters the other day in a press conference of LPG operators lobbying to lift the ban on refilled-butane canisters.
This photo of a butane stove and canister labeled with Mayor Mike Rama’s face, slogan and campaign color was shown by LPG refillers at a press conference. Where are the real items?
Basilio Alo, board secretary of the Cebu LPG Budget Gas Industry Player Association, said he got the canister on Wednesday morning from an employee, who said it was turned over by a driver in their Guadalupe refilling station.
“The Team Rama butane (canisters) were sold in barangay Guadalupe earlier this month at P15 and they claimed to be safer than the Type O brand,” which sells for P17 Alo said.
Former mayor Tomas Osmeña is openly advocating the use of LPG-refilled canisters as an affordable and safe source of cooking fuel.
He joined the LPG operators in the press conference, where a stove and sample canister labled “Type O” were used in a demonstration.
Sought for comment, Mayor Rama disowned the product with his image and campaign brand on it.
An ally in City Hall said the photos shown to the media “looks like a setup.”
“I have no idea why someone would fabricate this type of canister. I would never agree to put the lives of the poor at risk at any point in time,” Rama said in an interview.
He stood firm on his earlier announcement to enforce a government ban on LPG-refilled butane cans which is prohibited in a circular of the Department of Energy.
Osmeña, during the Thursday press conference, said a crackdown on LPG-refillers of butane canister would only force them to go underground.
“Then backyard refilling stations would spark in the squatters’ area, where houses are congested and are prone to fire,” he said.
He said Type O butane canisters were brand new containers that are safe to use, even for LPG, up to 45 times of reuse.
“BO-PK canisters have 45 dots, which means these can be used 45 times without showing signs of deterioration and defects unlike other brands,” he said.
A dot is shaded each time the canister is used.
Osmena alleged that Rama, whose reelection he is challenging next year, was trying to undercut the prices of “Type O” canisters with his own product.
“You think it is easy to reduce prices? No one can reduce rpices and he (Rama) doesn’t like the idea because he might lose.