Council’s proposal regulating LPG depots for cars assailed
Dealers of liquefied petroleum gas and a group of taxi operators yesterday criticized a proposed ordinance, regulating the business of LPG and LPG dispensing stations for automotive use, as a duplication of existing regulations by the Department of Energy.
The Visayan Islands Autogas Refueling Association, and LPG provider Petronas said they are not against the ordinance, proposed by Councilors Augustus Pe, Nestor Archival and Sylvan Jakosalem, but this would overlap DOE Circular OC2007-02-0002.
Lawyers Hector Almario and Leo Zaragoza, of the association and Petronas, said the circular already provides rules and regulations governing the business of supplying, hauling, storage, handling, marketing, and distributing LPG for automotive use.
The proponents of the measure have contended that, considering the proliferation of LPG dispensing stations for automotive use there is already a need to regulated such businesses to “ensure the safety of their operations and to avoid unwanted accidents.”
Section 3 of the proposed ordinance states that, “the operation of the proposed Auto-Gas LPG Dispensing Station shall be located in a medium/high intensity commercial (C-2) district zoning classification.”
The Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association also opposed this particular provision, saying the LPG dispensing operations of taxi operators have been confined to their respective garages, and moving these operations to a “medium/high intensity commercial district” would be an added expense and burden to the taxi operators.
The association’s lawyer, Floilan Quijano Jr., further argued that the proposed ordinance is in conflict with the DOE circular because the latter exempts garage-based operation from the governing rules and regulations.
Quijano said that while not all taxi operators are members of MCTOA, the group encompasses 60 percent of all taxis operating in
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