Judge in West Tower case inspects condo basement

The Makati judge hearing the P2-billion civil case that residents of West Tower Condominium had filed against the Lopez-owned First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) inspected the oil leak-affected building in Barangay (village) Bangkal on Monday.

According to an employee of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 58, Judge Eugene Paras conducted the inspection to help him decide whether or not the case was environmental in nature.

“[The judge] wants to see for himself the situation in the area,” said the staffer who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak to media.

During last month’s hearing, FPIC, together with its clients Shell and Chevron, questioned the court’s jurisdiction over the case.

FPIC owns and operates the pipeline system that was found to be the source of the oil that had been leaking into the basement of the 22-story condominium since July last year.

The pipe, a portion of which is located just meters away from the building, transports Chevron and Shell products from Batangas province to the Pandacan oil depot in Manila.

The judge has yet to rule on the respondents’ joint motion for the conduct of a preliminary hearing in which they would convince the court to determine whether or not the case was environmental in nature.

According to the respondents, it was not since the complainants were simply asking for compensation and not the enforcement of environmental laws.

But the unit owners and residents, through their lawyer Lorna Kapunan, said the respondents were merely employing delaying tactics.

Roberto Dimayuga, president of West Tower Homeowners Association, noted that the judge, during the inspection, was only able to go to two of the building’s four basements.

“He decided not to go down farther because of the strong smell of gasoline and the [slippery] floor,” Dimayuga said.