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Friday, July 25, 2008
13 gas stations use defective pumps
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Thirteen gas stations in Cagayan de Oro City were found using defective pumps by a City Hall task force.
They have been shortchanging vehicle owners by as much as 43 centavos for every 10 liters of purchase.
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This brings the number to 19 gas stations already found by the City Treasurer's Office Task Force Calibration to have defective gas pumps in the past month.
Last June 27, the task force found six gas stations, mostly located in Barangay Carmen, also with defective gas pumps.
Though they were sternly warned, the gas stations were allowed to operate again after the task force "fixed" the gas pumps.
"This kind of practice should not be tolerated because it's not fair to the public," said Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya, chair of the City Council Committee on Public Utilities.
According to Nacaya, the City Council passed a local ordinance last Monday that imposed stiffer penalties on erring gas station owners who have defective pumps.
Under the said ordinance, erring gas station owners will be penalized with a P5,000 fine and will have it's defective pumps sealed to be taken out of business.
The 13 gas stations found to have defective pumps were:
* Jetti located at Calamansi drive in Barangay Carmen and registered under the name of Wilhelm Valencia;
* Jetti in Zone 6, Bulua Highway, under the name of Isen Ting;
* Sultan Shell Station along C.M. Recto Avenue-Licuan streets, registered under the Roy Tancinco;
* Ultra Shell 2 in Claro M. Recto Avenue and registered under Edna Puertas;
* Ultra shell located along Gusa Highway under Claudio Puertas;
* Petron Station and Service Center along Vamenta Boulevard, Barangay Carmen, registered under Maria Lourdes Jane Pepito;
* First Gusa Caltex in Barangay Gusa, registered under the name of Harley Yu;
* Shell Filling Station at the East Bound Terminal in San Pedro, Barangay Gusa, under the name of James Giam;
* Caltex Central Station located along A. Velez street, under Adlai Elizaga;
* Shell Station located along Yacapin-Osmeña streets, registered under the name of Alfonso Goking;
* Petron located in 8th Nazareth-Hayes street, under the name of Ariel Tan;
* Petron along C.M. Recto-Osmeña streets, registered under the name of Edsel Salvana; and
* Petron in Barangay Macasandig under Roger Tan
Lety Linda Caga, chief of business tax mapping at the City Treasurer's Office, said these gas stations were found to have " undelivered" 25 milliliter to 75 milliliter for every 10 liters of purchase.
Caga said they found that the owners were not calibrating their gas pumps every day.
Some of these gas stations, she said, are calibrating their pumps only once or twice a week.
According to her, the margin of error will rise with this kind of practice.
The task force is making weekly visits to all 43 gas stations operating in the city, according to Caga.
Once a defective pump is found, Caga said the task force will "fixed" the pump until it delivers the correct amount of fuel to vehicle owners.
"The calibration is done 2 to 3 times per nozzle (pump) so dili gyud namo undangan hangtod nga mainsakto ang measurement," Caga said.
Caga said they also placed an "out of order" sign on every defective gas pump to warn vehicle owners.
But with only a few personnel in the task force, Caga conceded that the task of checking all of the gas stations is daunting. "We spend an entire day just inspecting one gas station," she said. (Annabelle L. Ricalde/Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (July 25, 2008 issue)
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