In the interest of public safety and consumer protection, the 37-member Quezon City council led by Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte as presiding officer has vowed to go after fly-by-night dealers and refillers of liquefied petroleum gas.
Belmonte said Ordinance No. 2677 has drawn tighter guidelines in the operation of LPG outlets in the city, targeting unscrupulous refillers and retailers that blatantly violate safety regulations and short-change consumers.
The operation of unsafe and substandard LPG retail outlets exposes the consuming public to fire, health, and environmental risks, the council said. Dishonest sellers, meanwhile, cheat on consumers with the distribution of a cylinder tank with lighter gas content.
“We at the city council see the urgent need to enact an ordinance that would curb, if not totally eliminate, the nefarious practices of LPG sellers to protect local consumers from all forms of danger and fraud,” the vice mayor said.
Belmonte cited data from the Bureau of Fire Protection that LPG leaks caused by defective tanks remained one of the main causes of fires.
Out of the 2,522 fire incidents from January to June 2017, 50 were caused by LPG, the bureau said.