A party-list member of Congress has been found guilty of unauthorized refilling of Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders owned by oil companies Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp., and Total Gas.
In a decision released by the Department of Justice, convicted by the Malabon City Regional Trial Court was Rep. Arnel U. Ty of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association party-list.
The decision stated that Ty was found guilty of violating Section 2 (a) in relation to Sections 3 and Section 4 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 33, otherwise known as “An Act Defining and Penalizing Certain Prohibited Acts Inimical to the Public Interests and National Security Involving Petroleum and/or Petroleum Products, Prescribing Penalties Therefore and for Other Purposes.”
The law prohibits “shortselling and adulteration of petroleum and petroleum products.”
As owner of Republic Gas Corp., Ty was sentenced by RTC Judge Ofelia Contreras-Soriano to pay a fine of P50,000 with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.
Regasco’s license to operate was ordered cancelled in the trial court’s decision and the petroleum products seized from its warehouse were forfeited in favor of the government.
The trial court gave credence to the testimony of Marvin de Jemil, an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, who led by test-buy operation in Regasco’s refilling plant on February 6, 2004. (Rey G. Panaligan)