CIDG cracks down on unlicensed fuel sales at Albay gas station

A gasoline station was found to have been selling cheap fuel without proper permits in Guinobatan, Albay.

According to a 24 Oras report by Jun Veneracion on Friday, authorities from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 5 had responded to a report regarding said illegal operations that had been taking place for a year.

They were able to seize more than P2 million worth of regular gasoline and diesel from the station, and had arrested four individuals, including the owner.

“Pag ganito dahil illegal ito, medyo mas mababa [ang bentahan ng guel]. Pero, our verification with DOE ay talagang wala siyang license to operate. So in short, ay bawal siyang magbenta ng petroleum products,” said CIDG-5 Regional Chief Police Colonel Oscar Regala.

(In cases like this where operations are illegal, [the price of fuel] is lower than usual. But our verification with DOE shows that there really was no license to operate. In short, they aren’t allowed to sell petroleum products.)

They also said that they are looking into the possibility that the fuel being sold had come from illegal sources.

“Based on our information, itong gasoline station na ito ay involved sa paihi. Yung pag nanakaw sa mga, lalo na sa mga trucking. Ninanakawan yung mga trucks,” Regala said.

(Based on our information, this gasoline station is involved in paihi. This is when they steal, especially from those in trucking. They steal from trucks.)

The owner is currently in detention, while complaints filed against the other three suspects were dropped as they were employees with no knowledge about the illegal operation.

Meanwhile, CIDG said that they are strengthening their efforts against illegal fuel selling amid the oil crisis.

“Actually, meron pa nga tayong mga namo-monitor nito at tuloy lang naman yung aming operasyon. In other provinces, meron pa rin kaming mga operasyon,” he said.

(Actually, we are still monitoring others, and our operations will continue. In other provinces, we also have other operations.) –Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/NB, GMA Integrated News