Our organization provides safe, reliable and quality LPG conversion kits for the transport industry in the Philippines.
That is why we were greatly disappointed by the special report, published in the Inquirer Nov. 3 issue, which pictured the auto-LPG industry in bad light. It greatly put in doubt all the successes we have had in the past five years in providing feasible and clean alternative fuel for public transport use.
LPG use in transport has been proven worldwide as a successful alternative to gasoline or diesel. If LPG were a toxic fuel, there would clearly be no place for it inside the home, where people are using it to prepare food for the family. And if it were a polluting fuel, it begs the question of why there are 16 million vehicles in the world running on LPG, and why car manufacturers like Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz, to name a few, have LPG options for their car models.
Indeed, we recognize the existence of vehicles poorly converted in the previous years, now with unwanted LPG leaks. We blame the fly-by-night conversion shops that ignored the safety standards mandated by the Department of Energy and Department of Trade and Industry-Bureau of Product Standards (DTI-BPS).
In addition, we also blame taxi operators who fail to have their LPG systems maintained with the converter of their own choice or the converters who do not have the means to service their customers’ vehicles. We believe this is the root cause of all the complaints that have been aired against LPG taxis in recent news.
These poorly converted LPG-fitted vehicles with unwanted LPG leaks are a cause for concern for the motoring public. To address this current situation, our association of nine active members, in cooperation with the DTI, is offering our services to inspect these taxis for free. We would then recommend solutions in order to rectify any conversion errors that we observed.
We assure the motoring public that we follow all the safety standards prescribed by the DTI-BPS, DOE and European ECE67R01/R115. We continue to adhere to our cause of providing a clean, reliable and safe fuel alternative to gasoline, and we believe that this positively affects our local air quality.
LPG fuel is still the best alternative fuel available to the transport industry in the global market today.
—FRANCIS BUENCAMINO,
vice president for public relations;
Alternative Fuel Converters
Association of the Philippines,
kuki@global-ambient.com and
JOHN NICOLAS GO,
corporate secretary,
Alternative Fuel Converters
Association of the Philippines,
nick_go@xoomautogaz.com