SC affirms 2009 ruling: Manila oil depot must go

MANILA, Philippines–Citing the need to remove—not just reduce—the risk faced by residents in the area, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered anew the relocation of the Pandacan oil depot in Manila as it gave the “Big 3” oil companies 45 days to submit a relocation plan which should be implemented within six months.

In a 10-2 vote, the high tribunal declared Manila City Ordinance 8187 unconstitutional and invalid. The 2009 ordinance passed during the time of former Mayor Alfredo Lim had reclassified the area where the oil depot is located as a heavy industry zone, making it legal for the facility to remain there.

At the same time, the court affirmed its 2009 decision upholding the validity of City Ordinance No. 8027. Approved in 2001 under then former Mayor Lito Atienza, the ordinance reclassified the site of the oil depot from an industrial to a commercial zone and directed the oil firms to stop operations and move out within six months.

“The Court, in this present case, stated that it was ‘the removal of the danger to life, not the mere subdual of risk of catastrophe, that we saw in and made us favor Ordinance No. 8027,” Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said in a press briefing yesterday. He added that the respondents may still appeal the decision.

According to the high court, the three oil companies using the depot—Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.—should submit in 45 days an “updated comprehensive plan and relocation schedule” and implement it within six months.

It also ordered incumbent Mayor Joseph Estrada to stop the implementation of Ordinance No. 8187 and shut down the oil facility.

“In coordination with the appropriate government agencies and the parties hereto involved, [Estrada] is further ordered to oversee the relocation and transfer of the oil terminals out of the Pandacan area,” the court said as it directed the presiding judge of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 39 “to monitor the strict enforcement” of its decision.

According to Te, the high court “adopted its reasoning” in its 2009 ruling when it upheld with finality the implementation of Ordinance No. 8027.

“It cited that the continued stay of the oil depots placed the residents of Manila in danger of being a terrorist target,” he told reporters.

The court said that it had sustained the validity of the 2001 ordinance “as a valid exercise of police power” as it empowered the city government “to safeguard the rights to life, liberty, security and safety of all the inhabitants of Manila.”

In April, Estrada enforced City Ordinance No. 8283—passed in 2012—which reclassified the depot site as a high-density commercial/mixed-use zone. He gave the oil firms until Jan. 31, 2016, to leave Pandacan.

The move to transfer the oil depot gained momentum after the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States in 2001. In October 2001, the Big 3 oil firms and the energy department agreed to relocate the facility for the safety of residents. Ordinance No. 8027 was passed the following month and took effect in December with Shell, Chevron and Petron given six months to comply.

The grace period, however, was extended several times until Chevron and Shell went to the Manila RTC Branch 39 in 2003 to ask the court to stop the implementation of the ordinance. Petron filed a separate petition and both courts ruled in the oil firms’ favor, prompting the Social Justice Society to ask the high court to order Atienza to enforce Ordinance No. 8027.–With Inquirer Research