SC allows DOE crackdown against erring LPG dealers

The Supreme Court recently gave the Department of Energy the go signal to enforce an order for the crackdown of unscrupulous dealers of liquefied petroleum gas, particularly those that hoard and sell under-filled cylinder tanks.

The SC last June 26 overturned a decision of the Regional Trial Court-Pasig City suspending the implementation of the DOE Circular No. 2000-06-010, issued on June 9, 2000, upon a motion of the LPG Refillers Association of the Philippines, Inc.

In reversing the lower court's decision, the High Court ruled that without such circular "it would render inutile the government efforts to protect the general consuming public against the nefarious practice of some unscrupulous LPG dealers."

DOE lawyers had argued that the circular was issued to enforce Batas Pambansa 33 penalizing illegal trading, hoarding, overpricing, adulteration, under-delivery and under-filling of petroleum products, and possession of adulterated petroleum products and under-filled LPG cylinders.

The law provides fines ranging from P20,000 to P50,000 against violators. But the RTC voided the circular because it introduced offenses that have not been included in the existing laws, and that the penalties set might exceed what might have been legally allowed.

But the SC ruled: "The enabling laws on which the circular is based were specifically intended to provide the DOE with increased administrative and penal measures with which to effectively curtail rampant adulteration and short selling, as well as other acts involving petroleum products, which are inimical to public interest."

There were suggestions earlier that LPG dealers should have weighing scales so that customers would be able to check if the LGP cylinders they are buying have the exact weight of 11 kilograms of gas excluding the cylinder's weight. - Rene U. Borromeo