Solons bat for LPG tank exchange program To weed out dilapidated, unsafe tanks

May 8, 2011

Amid the rise in accidental fires caused by defective liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks, a group of 19 members of Congress has filed a bill seeking to establish a cylinder exchange program as one of the strategies to ensure safety in the consumption of the cooking gas.

House Bill 3976 mandates the Department of Energy to set up an LPG Cylinder Exchange, Swapping and Rehabilitation Program for the benefit of consumers who may be in possession of dilapidated and hazardous tanks.

“The cylinder exchange scheme is one of the features of our bill, which basically sets the minimum fair standards of business conduct for all LPG industry participants, from importers to down to neighborhood dealers,” said Rep. Arnel Ty of the party-list group LPG Marketers’ Association (LPGMA), one of the authors of the bill.

Representatives Winston Castelo, Randolph Ting, Dakila Cua, Lord Allan Jay Velasco, Sherwin Tunga, Raymond Mendoza, Rodante Marcoleta, Pastor Alcover Jr., Sharon Garin, Ponciano Payuyo, Mark Sambar, Eulogio Magsaysay, Catalina Leonen-Pizzaro, Salvador Cabaluna III, Michael Angelo Rivera, Rodel Batocabe, Christopher Co, and Alfredo Garbin Jr. are co-authors of the bill.

“Worn out cylinders in circulation pose a grave risk to public safety. We want to remove these substandard cylinders from the market. We want LPG consumers and the industry to start with a clean slate,” said Ty, a member of the House energy committee.

Thailand’s national government successfully carried out a one-time cylinder exchange program in 2001 to weed out old and faulty tanks, according to Ty.
“Thailand spent only the equivalent of around P600 million to support the program. They were able to take away 1.2 million potentially unsound cylinders from their market,” Ty pointed out.

“Here, we don’t have yet a reliable estimate as to the number of possibly flawed cylinders. One industry group claims the number could be up to six million, but we have no way of verifying the accuracy of their figures,” Ty said.

“What is clear is that following the exchange program, our bill will provide adequate strategies to ensure that every LPG cylinder that comes out of a filling or refilling plant has gone through rigorous safety or re-qualifying tests,” he pointed out.

“This way, cylinders that get damaged from normal wear and tear will be methodically and promptly detected, repaired and re-qualified, or scrapped, as the case may be,” Ty added.

Besides launching the cylinder exchange program, HB 3976 also protects LPG consumers as well as legitimate industry participants against fraudulent refillers and traders, underfillers, hoarders, and illegal importers of second-hand and possibly spoiled cylinders.

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