Shortsell and be punished!
This is the Quezon City government’s warning to establishments engaged in petroleum retail business after Third District Councilor Jose Mario Don S. De Leon filed a proposed ordinance that will give more teeth to section 6 of Ordinance No. SP-1482,S-2005, which prohibits the underdelivery, shortselling and illegal trading of gasoline in the city.
According to De Leon, with the unpredictable increase in the prices of gasoline during these times of financial hardship, it is imperative that the city government should make sure that the consuming public gets the corresponding quantity of product for their money’s worth.
He said that there have been reports from the Quezon City Treasurer’s Office that a number of gasoline retail outlets in the city are engaged in shortselling of gas and illegal trading to the detriment of the gasoline-buying public.
To address this problem, the city council has to update and amend measures to make them more responsive to the changing needs of QCs constituents, De Leon said.
The author of the proposed resolution is confident that illegal practices of some gasoline stations, such as improper calibration of pumps and inaccurate dispensing of gasoline, will somehow be lessened if not totally stopped if his proposed measure is passed.
Under De Leon’s measure, all retail outlets are directed to calibrate their pumps once a month and to these pumps sealed by the proper authority. Uncalibrated dispensing pumps and those not delivering the correct quantity of sales shall be clearly marked ‘out-of-order” and padlocked by the retail outlets until they recalibrated and resealed by an authorized city personnel.
Operators of retail outlets that will be found engaged in shortselling and illegal trading of petroleum products with be penalized with a fine amounting to P4,000 and/or one month imprisonment for the first offense, P5,000 and/or 2 months imprisonment for the second offense and revocation of business license and/or 3 months imprisonment for the third and subsequent offenses. Rico/ Maureen Quinones, PAISO
