The Pandacan depot saga lives on

When the depot was set up decades ago Pandacan must have been the most strategic place to have it. Accessibility was beyond question as it was just by the Pasig River where barges carrying various oil products can easily berth. And after a while pipelines from refineries located in Batangas have found their way into its system. It being in the heart of Manila made it easy for lorries to pick up and transport these products to the oil companies’ service stations located in and around the city.

But times have changed several times over since several decades ago when the depots were first put up. The population density in the immediate surrounding area has multiplied several folds. And at the time when the first huge oil and fuel tanks were put up in Pandacan the word "terrorism" was almost as alien as it is a buzzword now.

So faced with the apprehensions of being a hazard to the populace living in the area considering the nature of what’s being stored and transported in and out of the depots, that of being very volatile and highly inflammable and faced with higher percentage of being a target of terrorist attack, the government of the City of Manila decided to pass a local law declaring the Pandacan area to be free of these depots, meaning "scram" to all the oil companies that have operations in the area.

Well, as many of you may already know there is a legal contest currently in the courts and the law permits us only to have reportorial references to the case without discussing its merits.

However as the legalities of the removal or stay of the depots are being weighed in the courts, the oil companies have made good some of their commitments to the government of the City of Manila. Foremost of which is the building of a safety buffer zone that divides the depot from the dwellings in the area, which even contributed largely to the aesthetics of the locale, looking much more like a mini park over the safety intentions of the infrastructure. Then there is also the actual reduction of storage tanks within the depot area. Although present count shows that the number of storage tanks to be de-commissioned as committed by the oil companies has not been met yet.

But what has recently cropped up may not be well within what’s being discussed and considered in the case that’s presently in the courts nor previously discussed in any forum between the City Government and the oil companies – the apprehension of having soil contamination in the area.

It is a fact that the depot has been there for several decades. And a related fact that cannot be discounted is the possibility of having chemical residues in the soil anywhere in the area of the depot, which may have possibly seeped into the surrounding residential areas as the years passed.

Now even in the remotest possibility that such soil contamination existed and any resident of Pandacan became adversely affected by such state, would the oil companies stand up to the responsibility of answering for whatever damages it may cause?

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza admitted in a recent television interview that no such prospect was discussed during their meetings with the oil companies but was quick to add that it should be.

Also in a similar TV interview, Shell’s present country chairman, Ed Chua, on the other hand, was quick to respond to the speculation, that in line with Shell’s guiding principles of its corporate citizenship, if proven to be so, there would be no other recourse but to be involved in answering for such damages.

The oil companies operating in the depot have similar firm claims that all safety systems and procedures have long been in place to ensure safety within the depot and the surrounding areas for any eventuality with emphasis on preventing such eventualities. This assurance, coupled with a projected possible further increase in prices of oil products to be precipitated by the cost of relocating the depot, is the rationale behind their preference to stay for good, if not for a while longer.

But some city officials and Pandacan residents still consider the depot as a "Damocles Sword" that’s constantly swinging ready to drop at a terrorist’s blink of an eye. And now the question of soil contamination.

As all parties wait for the courts to decide, the saga lives on.

60 Minutes With SEC Chairman Lilia Bautista

This week on Breaking Barriers (Wednesday, 11 p.m., IBC TV-13) we shall have for a full hour the guiding light of corporate governance in the country, Securities & Exchange Chairman, Lilia Bautista. Questions on the aftermath of the implementation of the Securities Reform Act, the new rules on corporate governance, the obligated public listing of the Philippine Stock Exchange, pyramiding scandals, inside trading cases and the government’s apparent trouncing in the Dante Tan case will be answered by the present but soon-to-retire SEC head. There’s a lot to know and learn in this very informative Q&A session. It may be a good idea to check it out.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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