Tindahan Natin outlets offer discounted LPG

Metro Manila residents in some depressed areas can now buy cooking gas at lower than market prices as part of the administration’s pro-poor program.

President Arroyo inaugurated yesterday the first Tindahan Natin convenience store on Agham Road, Barangay Pag-asa, Quezon City that would make available the discounted liquefied petroleum gas.

Petron Corp., through its chairman Nicasio Alcantara, has agreed to supply Tindahan Natin-accredited convenience stores with its LPG brand, Gasul, as contribution to the government’s efforts to help the poor.

Among the Gasul products to be sold at Tindahan Natin outlets are the standard household 11-kilogram cylinder, the 7-kg Gasulito and the 2.7-kg Gasulette.

The Tindahan Natin will sell Gasul and Gasulito at P510 and P340, respectively. regular outlets sell them at P530 and P370.

The retail price of Gasulette at Tindahan Natin outlets is P150 compared to P170 in other stores.

"We share the concern of the government over the rising cost of LPG, and this is our way of cushioning its impact and helping the poorest families," Alcantara said. "By bringing our LPG products closer to our consumers, it comes out cheaper and, consequently, more affordable."

He said that eventually, discounted Gasul products would be available to the residents of 18 communities identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as among the "poorest of the poor."

Seven other Tindahan Natin outlets will sell LPG brand Gasul in the following locations: Barangay 177 in Malibay, Pasay City; 16 Daang Kalabaw in Manggahan, Pasig; Addition Hills and the National Center for Mental Health Compound, 9 de Pebrero, Mandaluyong City; Bases Conversion Development Authority Centennial Village and Barangay Ususan, C-5, Taguig City; and North Bay Boulevard South, Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas.

The discounted cooking gas will be sold to low-income families of the eight barangays.

The President launched the Tindahan Natin program last month as part of the government’s initiative to expand the delivery of basic goods and services to the poor.

Through the Tindahan Natin program, poor families are able to gain access to low-priced basic commodities such as rice, sugar, fortified noodles, sugar and cooking gas.