From downscaling to relocation?

Many Manilans, especially those who reside in the Pandacan area, to include their worried relatives, must have heaved a sigh of relief upon knowing that Pilipinas Shell Corp. has completed the second phase of the scaling down of its 90-year-old oil depot facility located in the area.

This move to downscale is a result of the city’s decision to reclassify the Pandacan area from an industrial zone to what city officials say it should really be and presently mostly is, a residential area.

To refresh your memories, the City Government of Manila has actually moved to boot out the entire facility that’s composed of a complex of depots and structures of the three major oil companies namely, Shell, Petron and Caltex, citing several reasons of concern, topmost of which is the possibility that the depot could be a prime target for violent attack faced with the present trends of global terrorist activities similar to what happened to the World Trade Center, which resulted to the loss of thousands of lives and almost immeasurable loss of property. The contention is that such prospect undoubtedly affects the peace of mind of most if not all of the residents of the area, to say the least, with the actual scenario a clear threat to the lives and property of these people.

The oil companies on the other hand reportedly maintained that an immediate relocation would result to an overall disruption of the distribution of fuel and oil products in the metro and adjoining provinces and would translate to their added costs and eventually to higher prices.

The dispute is now for the courts to decide, however momentarily, the City Government and the oil companies concerned entered into an agreement wherein one of the provisions is to downscale the operations of the facility by the actual reduction of storage tanks and removal of other structures.

But interestingly, an issue that was never a part of the legal dispute that’s currently in the hands of our courts came about recently – the possibility of soil contamination in the facility and it’s adjoining areas where there is presently a concentration of local residents.

A concerned geologist who came out with his "two cents worth on soils" regarding the issue categorically said that the prospect is not remote considering the length of time that the storage tanks have been there. He further volunteered that it may be a little difficult to pinpoint the possible contaminated sites unless all the storage tank locations from the time the facility became operational before the turn of the century could be traced and documented, otherwise the entire location of the facility and its adjoining areas can be considered suspect to have soil contamination. He also added that the possibility of seepage couldn’t be discounted.

Now beyond the question of whether there is indeed soil contamination in the area, is the more serious concern of how such contamination, if there really is, can adversely affect the health of the workers of the oil companies and the residents that are constantly exposed to the areas that may be contaminated?

If you remember I mentioned in this column some weeks back the chance meeting I had with a lady balikbayan who has nephews and nieces who live near the Pandacan oil depot facility and her serious concern about their health faced with possible soil contamination in the area. She was mentioning that if this scenario were in the US where she has been staying for quite a number of years, a thorough investigation would be initiated by the government to immediately determine if such contamination really exists "walang ganyan sa States!"

I have been promised some sort of a position paper by one of the oil companies regarding this issue of possible soil contamination so that I can also pass on to you what they think about this controversy but the promise turned out to be a dud. But let it not be said that we never gave them a chance to say their piece about this.

Well if it’s any consolation, in a televised interview on Breaking Barriers (Wednesday evenings at 11 o’clock, IBC 13), the boyish-looking and very friendly country chairman of Pilipinas Shell, Mr. Ed Chua, categorically stated that should there really be such contamination in the area and any proven adverse effects would have been produced by such, it is well within the norms of the global corporate citizenship of Shell to stand up to any responsibility.

The downscaling done by Pilipinas Shell would undoubtedly be a welcome development, however with this issue of possible soil contamination, a huge leap from downscaling to relocation may not even really make the problem go away.

Well, we’ll keep our readers, especially the worried residents of Pandacan and their relatives and now even the workers in the depot facility, posted should there be any new developments on what might just possibly turn out to be a "shuddering prospect" (words of that lady balikbayan) of soil contamination at the Pandacan oil depot and its surrounding areas.

Well, let’s look at the bright side, it may not be that bad.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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