Lim yet to decide on Pandacan oil depot’s fate

MANILA, Philippines—Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has yet to decide on an ordinance passed by the city council requiring oil depots in Pandacan to relocate by January 2016.

Lim in an interview Saturday over Radyo Inquirer 990AM said several crucial issues, like city revenues and cost of gasoline, were being considered in compelling Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines and Shell Petroleum Corporation to leave the densely populated district.

Lim said he received only on Thursday a copy of Ordinance No. 7461, which seeks to reclassify the oil depot area from an industrial to a commercial zone. He has 10 days to act on it or the ordinance automatically becomes a law.

The three giant firms have been under tremendous pressure to transfer their gas depots amid safety concerns raised by various groups.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim visits Radyo Inquirer 990AM. Bernard Esguerra/INQUIRER.net

But Lim noted that not a single major accident occurred since the oil depot was established in Pandacan.

At the same time, he acknowledged the argument of oil firms that maintaining their operations there would result to lesser costs of gasoline, noting it takes about 1,000 gas tankers to ship gasoline from Batangas to Manila.

The Pandacan depot supplies about half of Luzon’s fuel needs and 82 percent of Metro Manila’s gasoline and diesel requirements.