CEBU CITY – Three persons were arrested in a series of raids Tuesday, July 26 targeting individuals engaged in the illegal selling of petroleum products in Metro Cebu.
Personnel of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Energy-Central Visayas seized at least P1-million worth of fuel products.
In a press conference Thursday, July 28, NBI-Region 7 special investigator Arnel Pura said they discovered that hundreds of liters of diesel and gasoline were being sold without regulatory permits and documents.
Pura disclosed that the operations were conducted after the Visayas Unified Truckers Association Inc. complained that some truck drivers and truckers are moonlighting as illegal distributors of petroleum products.
First to be arrested was John Lloyd Sumalinog, a caretaker of a privately owned compound in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City that was used in the unauthorized distribution and selling of petroleum products.
From Mandaue, the NBI-Region 7 conducted another operation in Barangay Carreta here where Antonio Montellano Cellar Jr. and Diether Matbagon Tagalog were arrested. “Cellar and Tagalog were caught selling petroleum products without any authority from DOE,” said Pura.
Pura said the subjects of the operations were the owners of the two properties.
The property owners identified as Reofel Cababan and Yen-Yen Pasaol were not around during the operations.
The three arrested persons will be charged for violating Presidential Decree 1865, Pura said.