UP experts told to stop collecting fuel samples from Makati barangay

Officials of Barangay (village) Bangkal in Makati City have ordered the team of experts hired by the city government to refrain from collecting petroleum products in the vicinity of oil leak-affected West Tower Building allegedly for neglecting safety measures.

In a one-page order issued to Dr. Carlo Arcilla of the University of the Philippines’ National Instiute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS), the barangay council said the team failed to implement safety measures around the extracting wells such as putting up closed barricades, fire extinguishers and spill kits.

The barangay officials also noted the improper transportation of petroleum products through a jeepney as well as the workers’ use of unsafe container such as pails in collecting fuel.

“The manner in which they collect and transport petroleum products are considered unsafe and hazardous especially to the residents,” said Barangay Councilman Bam Hildawa.

Documented

He said the UP-NIGS team’s alleged unsafe practices while carrying on their activities in the area are all documented.

“We have pictures and videos to show that they’re not implementing safety measures. They transport fuels using a jeepney which is very dangerous not only for the workers but also for their fellow motorists on the road,” Hildawa told the Inquirer.

Sought for comment, Arcilla admitted that they may have had lapses with regards to safety precautions.

“I admit, meron kaming pagkukulang but these were already corrected. Maybe what happened was just a matter of miscommunication. Since I report directly to the City Hall regarding our work in the area, maybe the barangay’s not just aware of what we’re doing and how we actually operate,” he told the Inquirer.

He added that soon after he received the cease and desist order, he immediately obliged and ordered his men to stop work in the area.

Divisiveness

Although he lamented that he was not given any warning by the barangay prior to the issuance of the CDO, which he claimed was coursed through the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC), Arcilla said he doesn’t want the issue to cause divisiveness among his team, the barangay and the city government.

“Let us not divert from the real issue here, the real problem—there are still more than a million litter of fuel that remains on the ground,” he said.

The city government initially hired the UP NIGS to study the extent and monitor the development of the oil leak, the source of which was earlier traced to a portion of the 117-kilometer pipeline owned and operated by FPIC.

The pipeline stretches from Batangas to the Pandacan oil depots in Manila and carries refined products, gasoline, diesel, aviation gas and kerosene.

Since June, Arcilla said that with the permission of the city government, they started collecting fuels from the almost 200 holes they bore in the vicinity to speed up the recovery of contaminants in the area.