THE party-list group Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) has rebuffed as “totally unjustified” the libel complaint against its representative to Congress, Arnel Ty, in connection with a previous warning against potentially unsafe cooking fuel cylinders.
“There is absolutely no basis for this outrageous complaint, as all of the Congressman’s statements pushing for the safe consumption of LPG are clearly imbued with public interest, and all are without any malice whatsoever,” said LPG-MA counsel Miguel Ponce Jr.
“The Congressman’s repeated remarks cautioning consumers against possibly unsafe LPG cylinders are all inspired by his duty to inform and protect the public, considering the growing number of related accidental explosions and fires,” Ponce said.
Ponce was responding to the filing of a P10-million libel complaint against Ty, two reporters and an editor of two tabloids.
Arlene Requilme of Worthy Marketing, the entity behind Shine Gaz, filed the suit before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
“Even more outrageous is the inclusion of three journalists in the suit, when in fact they were merely performing their jobs and reporting the news, obviously owing to their sense of duty to the public,” Ponce said.
Ty is author of the proposed LPG Regulation and Safety Act, which seeks to enable the orderly replacement of some six million cooking gas cylinders that are at least 10 years old and in bad condition.
The bill includes a one-time LPG Cylinder Exchange, Swapping and Rehabilitation Program for the benefit of consumers possessing dilapidated, defective and poor-quality tanks.
The bill likewise sets adequate strategies to ensure that every LPG tank coming out of a refilling plant has gone through painstaking safety or re-qualifying tests.
Tanks damaged from normal wear and tear would be promptly detected, repaired and re-qualified, or scrapped.
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