Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The HONORABLE SECRETARY VINCENT S. PEREZ, in his capacity as the Secretary of the
Department of Energy, Petitioner,
vs.
LPG REFILLERS ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC., Respondent.
DECISION
QUISUMBING, J.:
Before us is a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45, assailing the Decision1 and
Order2 of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, Branch 161, in SCA Case No. 2318, which
nullified Circular No. 2000-06-010 of the Department of Energy (DOE).
Batas Pambansa Blg. 33, as amended, penalizes illegal trading, hoarding, overpricing,
adulteration, underdelivery, and underfilling of petroleum products, as well as possession for
trade of adulterated petroleum products and of underfilled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
cylinders.3 The said law sets the monetary penalty for violators to a minimum of P20,000 and a
maximum of P50,000.4
On June 9, 2000, Circular No. 2000-06-010 was issued by the DOE to implement B.P. Blg. 33,
thus:
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
and initiate criminal proceedings
A. LPG Refiller/Marketer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. Dealer
A. LPG Refiller/Marketer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. Dealer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
A. LPG Refiller/Marketer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. Dealer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
A. LPG Refiller/Marketer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. Dealer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
A. LPG REFILLER/MARKETER
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. DEALER
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
A. LPG Refiller/Marketer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
B. Dealer
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
3rd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
2nd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
plus the filing of appropriate criminal action
2nd Offense - Recommend business closure to the proper local government unit
SECTION 14. REFUSAL OR FAILURE TO PAY FINE The Department of Energy shall
recommend to the proper local government unit the closure of business of a respondent who
refuses or fails to pay any administrative fine without prejudice to the filing of an appropriate
criminal action if warranted.5
Respondent LPG Refillers Association of the Philippines, Inc. asked the DOE to set aside the
Circular for being contrary to law. The DOE, however, denied the request for lack of merit.
Respondent then filed a petition for prohibition and annulment with prayer for temporary
restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction before the trial court.
After trial on the merits, the trial court nullified the Circular on the ground that it introduced new
offenses not included in the law.6 The court intimated that the Circular, in providing penalties on a
per cylinder basis for each violation, might exceed the maximum penalty under the law. The
decretal part of its Decision reads:
IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, this Court renders judgment declaring DOE Circular No. 2000-
06-010 null and void and prohibits the respondent from implementing the same.
SO ORDERED.7
The trial court denied for lack of merit petitioners motion for reconsideration. Hence this petition,
raising the following issues:
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO GRAVELY ERRED IN HOLDING THAT "A CLOSE
SCRUTINY OF BP 33, PD 1865 AND R.A. NO. 8479 SHOWS THAT OFFENSES LIKE NO
PRICE DISPLAY [BOARD], NO WEIGHING SCALE, ETC. SET FORTH IN THE CIRCULAR
ARE NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANY OF THE THREE (3) LAWS".
II
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO GRAVELY ERRED IN HOLDING THAT "A
SCRUTINY OF THE NEW SET OF PENALTIES PROVIDED BY THE CIRCULAR SHOWS
THAT THE PENALTIES THIS TIME ARE BASED ON PER CYLINDER BASIS"; THAT "BEING
SUCH, NO CEILING WAS PROVIDED FOR AS TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE FINES"; THAT "AS
ILLUSTRATED BY THE PETITIONER, FOR JUST ONE LPG CYLINDER FOUND VIOLATING
AT LEAST SEC[TIONS] 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 AND 11 OF THE [CIRCULAR], A FINE OF P24,000.00 IS
IMPOSED;" AND THAT "THIS WILL CLEARLY BE BEYOND THE P10,000.00 PROVIDED BY
THE LAWS."
III
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO GRAVELY ERRED IN HOLDING THAT SECTION 16
OF PETITIONERS CIRCULAR WHICH AUTHORIZES THE IMPOSITION OF PECUNIARY
PENALTIES WITH THE TOTAL FINE NOT EXCEEDING P20,000.00 FOR RETAIL OUTLETS
VIOLATES THE PENALTY CEILING OF P10,000.00 SET UNDER BP BLG. 33, AS AMENDED.
IV
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO GRAVELY ERRED IN HOLDING THAT SINCE
SECTION 5(g) OF R.A. 7638 FINDS NO REFERENCE IN DOE CIRCULAR NO. 2000-06-010,
THE SAME SHOULD BE DISREGARDED.
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO GRAVELY ERRED IN HOLDING THAT "ON THE
NEW OFFENSES INTRODUCED IN THE CIRCULAR SUCH AS SECTIONS 4, 5, 10, 13 AND
14 AND THE IMPOSITION OF THE GRADUATED PENALTIES ON A PER CYLINDER BASIS,
THIS COURT FINDS [NO] REASON TO DISTURB ITS FINDINGS THAT RESPONDENT-
MOVANT EXCEEDED ITS AUTHORITY. X X X IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED THAT BP BLG.
33 AS AMENDED AND P.D. 1865 ARE CRIMINAL STATUTES AND MUST BE CONSTRUED
WITH SUCH STRICTNESS AS TO CAREFULLY SAFEGUARD THE RIGHTS OF THE
DEFENDANT."
VI
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN HOLDING THAT "THE ASSAILED
CIRCULAR SETS NO MAXIMUM LIMIT AS TO THE FINE THAT MAY BE IMPOSED ON AN
ERRING PERSON OR ENTITY TO WHICH FACT MOVANT CONCEDES. FOR ONE (1)
CYLINDER ALONE, NOT ONLY DOES THE CIRCULAR MAKE THE FINE EXCESSIVE TO
THE EXTENT OF BEING CONFISCATORY, BUT IT EVEN IMPOSES A PENALTY WHICH MAY
EVEN GO BEYOND THAT MAXIMUM IMPOSABLE FINE OF P50,000.00 SET BY P.D. 1865 IN
ITS SEC. 4 AFTER A CRIMINAL PROCEEDING."8
To our mind, the issue raised by petitioner may be reduced to the sole issue of whether the
Regional Trial Court of Pasig erred in declaring the provisions of the Circular null and void, and
prohibiting the Circulars implementation.
Petitioner argues that the penalties for the acts and omissions enumerated in the Circular are
sanctioned by Sections 19 and 3-A10 of B.P. Blg. 33 and Section 2311 of Republic Act No.
8479.12 Petitioner adds that Sections 5(g)13 and 2114 of Republic Act No. 763815 also authorize the
DOE to impose the penalties provided in the Circular.
Respondent counters that the enabling laws, B.P. Blg. 33 and R.A. No. 8479, do not expressly
penalize the acts and omissions enumerated in the Circular. Neither is the Circular supported by
R.A. No. 7638, respondent claims, since the said law does not pertain to LPG traders.
Respondent maintains that the Circular is not in conformity with the law it seeks to implement.
For an administrative regulation, such as the Circular in this case, to have the force of penal law,
(1) the violation of the administrative regulation must be made a crime by the delegating statute
itself; and (2) the penalty for such violation must be provided by the statute itself.16
The Circular satisfies the first requirement. B.P. Blg. 33, as amended, criminalizes illegal trading,
adulteration, underfilling, hoarding, and overpricing of petroleum products. Under this general
description of what constitutes criminal acts involving petroleum products, the Circular merely
lists the various modes by which the said criminal acts may be perpetrated, namely: no price
display board, no weighing scale, no tare weight or incorrect tare weight markings, no authorized
LPG seal, no trade name, unbranded LPG cylinders, no serial number, no distinguishing color,
no embossed identifying markings on cylinder, underfilling LPG cylinders, tampering LPG
cylinders, and unauthorized decanting of LPG cylinders. These specific acts and omissions are
obviously within the contemplation of the law, which seeks to curb the pernicious practices of
some petroleum merchants.
As for the second requirement, we find that the Circular is in accord with the law. Under B.P. Blg.
33, as amended, the monetary penalty for any person who commits any of the acts aforestated is
limited to a minimum of P20,000 and a maximum of P50,000. Under the Circular, the maximum
pecuniary penalty for retail outlets is P20,000,17 an amount within the range allowed by law.
However, for the refillers, marketers, and dealers, the Circular is silent as to any maximum
monetary penalty. This mere silence, nonetheless, does not amount to violation of the aforesaid
statutory maximum limit. Further, the mere fact that the Circular provides penalties on a per
cylinder basis does not in itself run counter to the law since all that B.P. Blg. 33 prescribes are
the minimum and the maximum limits of penalties.
Clearly, it is B.P. Blg. 33, as amended, which defines what constitute punishable acts involving
petroleum products and which set the minimum and maximum limits for the corresponding
penalties. The Circular merely implements the said law, albeit it is silent on the maximum
pecuniary penalty for refillers, marketers, and dealers. Nothing in the Circular contravenes the
law.
Noteworthy, the enabling laws on which the Circular is based were specifically intended to
provide the DOE with increased administrative and penal measures with which to effectively
curtail rampant adulteration and shortselling, as well as other acts involving petroleum products,
which are inimical to public interest. To nullify the Circular in this case would be to render inutile
government efforts to protect the general consuming public against the nefarious practices of
some unscrupulous LPG traders.
WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The assailed Circular No. 2000-06-010 of DOE is
declared valid. The Decision and Order of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, Branch 161, in
SCA Case No. 2318, nullifying said Circular and prohibiting its implementation are
hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE.
No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
ATTESTATION
I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the
case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Courts Division.
LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
Associate Justice
Chairperson
CERTIFICATION
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, and the Division Chairpersons Attestation,
I certify that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the
case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Courts Division.
ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN
Chief Justice
Footnotes
2
Id. at 73-77.
3 SEC. 2. Prohibited Acts. The following acts are prohibited and penalized:
xxxx
[(e)] (G) Speed contests and rallies involving mainly the use of motor vehicles,
motor-driven watercraft or aircraft utilizing petroleum-derived fuels, including car
and motorcycle rallies and drag racing, without the permit from the Bureau of
Energy Utilization; and
[(f)] (H) Sky-diving, and water-skiing except when methanol is used for the power-
boat operation.
4 SEC. 4. Penalties. Any person who commits any act herein prohibited shall, upon
conviction, be punished with a fine of not less than [two] TWENTY thousand pesos
[(P2,000)] (P20,000) but not more than [Ten] FIFTY thousand pesos [(P10,000)]
(P50,000).
6Batas Pambansa Blg. 33 (1979), Presidential Decree No. 1865 (1983), or Republic Act
No. 8479 (1998).
7 Rollo, p. 72.
8 Id. at 500-502.
xxxx
SEC. 23. Implementing Rules and Regulations. The DOE, in coordination with the
11
Board, the DENR, DFA, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of
Health (DOH), DOF, DTI, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and
TLRC, shall formulate and issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations within
sixty (60) days after the effectivity of this Act.
12 An Act Deregulating the Downstream Oil Industry, and For Other Purposes.
13SEC. 5. Powers and Functions. The Department shall have the following powers and
functions:
xxxx
Subject to existing rules and regulations, the funds and monies collected or which
otherwise come into the possession of the Department and its bureaus from fees,
surcharges, fines and penalties which the Department and its bureaus may
impose and collect under this Act, x x x shall be disbursed for expenses
necessary for the effective discharge of the powers and functions of the
Department under this Act.
15An Act Creating the Department of Energy, Rationalizing The Organization and
Functions of Government Agencies Related to Energy, and For Other Purposes.
SEC. 16. Maximum Total Penalty. In the imposition of pecuniary penalties the
total fine shall not exceed Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00) for retail outlets.