LPG: Our first available fuel alternative!

I was reading a news item from The Freeman last Monday on a report by Councilor Edgardo Labella, Chair of Cebu City's Committee on Laws requesting the Department of Energy (DoE) to go after illegal Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) operators as it has been proven that some 3,000 fire incidents that happened in the entire country was blamed on these illegal operators. These fires cause the deaths of some 500 lives. Of course I was alarmed that this was happening in our country and right here in Cebu!

To be perfectly honest, this is the first time ever that I knew that there are illegal LPG operators. I fully agree that the DoE should identify them and tag them so that if in the event of another fire that may lead to the loss of life, we can start blaming these illegal operators and perhaps charge them with homicide through reckless imprudence?

Meanwhile, talking about LPG, if you didn't know, it is the only "alternative" fuel that we could use in our vehicles as quickly as saying one, two and three! With world prices of crude skyrocketing towards historic heights, thanks to the renewed turmoil in the Middle East, using LPG in our cars has become a very acceptable and our only alternative, especially in these times when ethanol is not yet available. But the problem motorists face today is, there are no LPG stations that could give you LPG nor are there even shops that can attach an LPG line to be used in your car.

But the future is fast coming soon, as my good friend, Hector Almario is apparently constructing Cebu's first ever LPG station in partnership with Petronas, Malaysia's biggest Petroleum company, owner of the famous Petronas Tower, now the World's Tallest building. I don't know when he is slated to operate, but with LPG prices at half that of gasoline, hmmm... I just might join the LPG bandwagon. When I install one in my car, I'll let you know whether it is worth it or not! I'm sure it is well worth the trouble.

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Talking about the Middle East problems, just when we thought that peace had finally come to Lebanon and the city of Beirut, the peace dividend vanished through rocket, missile and cannon fire destroying its recently rebuilt infrastructure. Once again, the Middle East is in flames and as always, the first victims are the innocents of Israel and Lebanon, especially the women and children. While we may be so far and away from this conflict, world prices of crude oil have again skyrocketed to historic highs of US$78 per barrel. If all this fighting doesn't stop soon, we're looking even at a hundred dollars per barrel of crude oil and that affects our economy here in Cebu!

Right now our biggest headache is what to do with the supposedly 30,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in Lebanon. We don't really know if these figures are accurate that there are so many Filipinos working in Lebanon, but even if we only had half the number, it would still be a mega problem how to get them out of that war zone. Right now, the British Navy has the HMS Gloucester docked in Beirut's harbor, the only direct exit out of Lebanon since the Israelis bombed the Beirut International Airport. The Americans are thinking of using cruise liners to get American citizens out.

So without any clear and credible evacuation plan, OFWs are huddled inside Catholic Churches. Thank God that there are still Catholic churches in that predominantly Muslim country. At this point, I would like to believe that our OFWs are safe within these churches because so far, the protagonists of this conflict has refrained from firing rockets or cannons on Mosques and Churches. But then, the next problem is, how do you feed thousands of people huddled inside these churches? Indeed the problem is daunting and solutions are needed fast.

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Just when we wrote about the leakage about the Nursing Licensure exams... suddenly the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) came out with their announcement that 17,821 out of 42,006 passed the exams given by the Board of Nursing last June 2006. Rather than putting on hostage the thousands of well-meaning Nursing graduates who took the exams, the PRC has withheld the results of the examination to the 18 examinees pending final determination of their liabilities under the rules and regulations governing licensure examinations.

I went to Philstar.com to see the list of those who passed and congratulations to Ms. Marian "Anya" Unchuan daughter of our good friends, Mr. Francisco and Marissa Unchuan and Ms. Abbie Jane Matig-a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Generoso Matig-a... very proud happy parents indeed!

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