Makati gov’t to Lopez firm: Oil leak mess far from solved

The Makati City government on Friday reminded the Lopez-owned First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) that the issues arising from the West Tower oil leak were “far from resolved” despite a recent court ruling, and that cleaning up the leak remains as the company’s “primary responsibility.”

In a statement, Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. said “FPIC should look beyond the economic gains from the reopening of the pipeline and consider the long-term safety of the residents, which is the primary interest of the city government.”

“Our private consultants have reported that there are still substantial amounts of petroleum products beneath Bangkal—between 500,000 to 700,000 liters of petroleum, most of which have already contaminated the groundwater and soil beneath the barangay,” Binay said.

FPIC owns the 117-km oil pipeline stretching from Batangas province to Manila, which was found to have suffered leaks beneath the West Tower Condominium in Barangay Bangkal in July 2010.

The leak forced the evacuation of the condo residents. The Supreme Court later ordered the temporary closure of the pipeline as it issued the country’s first writ of kalikasan against its operations.

On December 21 last year, acting on an order from the high court, the 11th Division of the Court of Appeals directed FPIC to seek a certification from the Department of Energy that the pipeline is safe before it could be reopened.

The firm must submit the certification to the Supreme Court within 60 days or the pipeline would be shut for good, the CA said.

On Thursday, officers of the West Tower Homeowners Association noted that with the amount of oil now permeating the soil in Bangkal, the remediation being undertaken by FPIC would likely take 11 years, not just three to five years as stated in previous FPIC statements.

“After more than two years, where are we now?” said Robert Dimayuga, the association president. ‘’My family is still staying in a small, cramped apartment, our dreams ruined.”

“What we asked was temporary [relocation] while remediation is ongoing. They came back offering money. We just need a place to stay, not money. We are not extortionists,” Dimayuga said.

About 10 residents of Barangay Bangkal complained about fumes purportedly coming from the wells FPIC had dug to siphon off the oil.

The FPIC earlier denied allegations that the pipeline had developed new leaks after the one discovered in 2010. It cited a March 2012 document from the DOE declaring the pipeline safe for operation after the conduct of a leak test.