Residents block oil depot transfer

Several residents living near the Pandacan oil depot in Manila are opposed to its transfer as they fear that they will be the next to be evicted once the ordinance which pushes for the facility’s closure is implemented.

“What will happen to us if the oil depot [is] kicked out? We can be ejected, too because there are rumors that a shopping mall will be built here once the depot is gone,” Leticia Perez of Barangay 834 told the Inquirer recently.

“When they go, we go,” Barangay 836 watchman Arnel Arcilla said in a separate interview, adding that he had also heard reports about plans for the construction of a mall in the area.

Unlike residents of Barangay 834 who have titles to their lots, those from Barangay 836 are living on government property.

Perez belittled concerns about the dangers posed by the oil depot to residents in the Pandacan district—the primary reason cited by Manila councilors who crossed party lines to vote in favor of the ordinance.

“I am 72 years old and no major disaster has happened here. Besides, the oil companies are a great help to us. They give scholarships to our children. If not for them, who would help us?” she said.

Her statements were backed up by other residents interviewed by the Inquirer.

According to them, the oil firms have provided them with livelihood training and other benefits such as free food during holidays. They also regularly conduct safety drills for residents, they added.

“We were bombed during the Japanese occupation and even then, the oil depot did not explode,” Arcilla said.

Last week, the Manila City Council passed on third and final reading an ordinance which reclassifies the area where the oil facility is located from an industrial to a commercial zone, paving the way for the closure of the depot which are under the category of heavy industrial.

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