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By Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter
Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila on Friday said the
city government may soon act on the plan to transfer the oil depot
located in the city’s Pandacan district to ensure the safety of
the residents living in the area.
This was the mayor’s response as
cause-oriented groups and residents of Pandacan expressed their
concerns on the possibility that the oil depots may also explode,
either accidentally or deliberately, taking into account Wednesday
night’s incident where a tanker suddenly exploded at the Nagtahan
flyover.
Lim already instructed Manila’s City Legal
Department to check on the legalities of the plan to relocate the
oil depot to another area.
He added that the investigation on the tanker
explosion should also zero in on the concerned personnel at the
Pandacan oil depot, to find out if there was negligence on their
part.
Matter is still with Supreme Court
The day after the Nagtahan incident, the mayor
seemed to prefer to keep his hands off the issue of closing Pandacan,
since the matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, in March last year, ordered
the Manila City government to implement City Ordinance No. 8027,
declaring the oil depot area as a commercial area, and not as an
industrial zone. This disallows the existence of a depot there.
The High Court directed then-Manila Mayor Lito
Atienza to order companies such as Caltex Philippines Inc., Petron
Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to cease and desist
operations in the Pandacan area within six months.
Up to now, the order was not yet implemented as
the oil firms asked the High Court to reconsider its decision.
Lawyer Vladimir Cabigao, legal representative of
some 15,000 residents of Pandacan, said they are asking the High
Court to immediately junk the motion for reconsideration filed by
the oil companies.
“Will we wait for another accident to happen
before we act? We urge the [Supreme] Court to reject the oil
companies’ petition so that they no longer have any legal reason
to continue their operations in Pandacan,” Cabigao said.
The Pandacan oil depot is the source of around
50 percent of the country’s total supply for oil. It also supplies
70 percent of the shipping industry’s fuel needs.
The Philippine National Oil Co. earlier
suggested possible relocation sites for oil depots to avert a
probable supply crisis from the possible closure of Pandacan to
petroleum operations.
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