Beware of LPG refills

The topic at Wednesday’s Fernandina Media Forum, Inc, was education, with resource persons Ma.Victoria Garchitorena of Ayala Corporation, Guillermo Luz of the Makati Business Club, Hadji Muslimin Jann Jakilan of the Autonomous Basilan Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and John Dalton of Growth with Equity in Mindanao Program talking about initiatives to expose students to the wonders of information technology and reading competency.

These initiatives have seen the installation of internet laboratories and computer literacy programs in scores of public elementary and high schools in Central Luzon and the Visayas as well as in ARMM that provide students access to world knowledge by satellite. A campaign is going on to accept donations of one million story books to be distributed to children, and parents are being made aware of education being a great equalizer.

The discussion shifted to the government plan to tax text messaging in order to generate revenue. The resource persons, and, well, I guess everyone present at the 11-year-old forum, nixed the plan.

Ms. Garchitorena said she understood the government’s concern to patch up its revenue deficit, but there are ways to do that, foremost of which is the collection of taxes which corporations have a way of evading, and sin taxes (on liquor and cigarettes). The cell phone, she said, has become a popular mode of communication for the masses of people. It takes years before one can have a telephone installed, but the cell phone is easily available and affordable, and Filipinos being family-oriented, it binds parents and children, and enables communication with relatives abroad.

We agree with Mr. Luz about text messaging having become "a part of the social fabric, it’s like second nature." Most everyone has a cell phone – factory workers and household help, executives, socialites, teachers, students, farmers and fishermen. The lowliest of company employees save up to buy a cell phone on installment.One can text one’s spouse or boss in Manila from Jolo in an instant.

Mr. Luz said text messaging should not be taxed, as telephone companies are already taxed 32 per cent on net income. I take this to mean that for every cell card that a consumer buys, he pays for the tax on the cell card, and for every card sold, the telephone company selling it is already taxed.

I’m glad the government has shelved this text-messaging tax. It’s silly to deprive people of a cheap communication system. It can result in a revolution, and I will be part of it.

These are hard times. More and more Filipino households, beleaguered by rising costs of basic commodities, utilities, education, and recently, the transport fare hike, are turning to cheaper substitutes of goods or services in place of those they would normally prefer. This shift in loyalties is borne out of necessity, by the fact that our buying power is falling by the day.

I feel for the housewife who must try every means to stretch the dwindling family funds. I myself keep looking for substitutes for goods which have become more expensive.

More often than not, the substitute goods do not meet quality standards. They can also bring harm and danger to the unsuspecting buyer who want to save a centavo or two. I wish to stress that everyone must be prepared to take risks when buying cheaper substitutes.

But we can’t afford to take risks with volatile substitutes for, for instance, LPG refills. A family friend who wanted to save on such refills, told me she was horrified to learn that several fires had been traced to the same kind of metal tanks her LPG came in. She has switched back to the trusted brands.

It’s apparent that merchants selling LPG refills take shortcuts in "packaging" their product by simply refilling the cylinders of legitimate LPG companies after scrapping off the logos and other identification marks. These merchants argue that keeping their overhead low allows them to offer the buying public a cheaper alternative.

Well, those refills may be cheaper alternatives, but I have strong doubts as to the safety of the refilling practices. Aren’t the tanks compromised when they are no longer subjected to strict safety inspection if refilled by the legitimate brand owner? And to think that many people actually take these safety hazards into their homes and use these daily!

The refillers’ claim of a lower overhead may be true, since they do not invest in the purchase and maintenance of the tanks to ensure the safety of their cylinders.

What’s more, illegally refilled LPG cylinders, intercepted by law enforcement authorities, are under-filled. Ordinary people are continuously cheated by these unscrupulous businessmen. Isn’t this a violation of the Consumer act of the Philippines?

I’m reminded of the principle in commerce – caveat emptor – "let the public beware." To be safe, I suggest that we all go with the brand that has been tried and tested. We may be able to save a few pesos by buying an LPG clone, but we also put the lives of our family members, not to mention property, on the line.

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