Maximum security eyed in use of LPG as car fuel

The city police office has laid down its recommendations for the maximum implementation of a proposed ordinance that seeks to regulate the business of liquefied petroleum gas as fuel for motor vehicles here in the city.

In a letter to Vice Mayor Michael Rama, city police chief Ronald Roderos said it is important that maximum security be imbedded in the ordinance because LPG, being a mixture of highly combustible, inflammable, and explosive, gases may be utilized by terrorists to carry out violent acts.

“Its economic use is clearly viable; however, if it is left in the hands of the terrorists, even the idea of it sends a chilling sensation down our spine. LPG dispensing stations could even provide vulnerable targets for the terrorists in pursuing their evil cause,” Roderos said.

Roderos recommended that a security assessment survey be conducted by qualified personnel of the PNP before interested businessmen are allowed to open an LPG refilling station and every three months after the business commences and/or the situation warrants.

The security assessment survey shall identify and/or locate vulnerable or weak areas of the establishments that could be considered security risks such that corrections may be immediately initiated before and during the actual engagement of business operations.

The concerned PNP personnel shall directly submit the security survey report to the Office of the Mayor, as well as to the City Council.

Roderos further recommended that LPG refilling stations should have one specific color for them to be identifiable by the public.

“Prohibition of any other activity, which requires usage of open flame, such as, but not limited to, cooking, burning of trashes, smoking, etc., within a specified distance from the establishment should be dealt with accordingly with its corresponding penalty,” Roderos said.

Moreover, Roderos said LPG-operated vehicles should be marked appropriately at the front and back.

Some dealers of liquefied petroleum gas and a group of taxi operators in the city believe that the proposed ordinance seem to duplicate the rules and regulations promulgated by DOE through Department Circular OC2007-02-0002.

The Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association, for example, opposed Section 3 (f) of the proposed ordinance, which mandates 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 group’s lawyer Froilan Quijano, Jr. had said this particular provision is burdensome to the taxi operators that operate in their garage because transferring to a medium/high intensity commercial district would be an added burden to the taxi operators.  — Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV