Pandacan oil depot relocation pressed

Major oil firms will have to relocate their facilities from the Pandacan oil depot within the next six months after the Manila City Council passed an ordinance yesterday reclassifying Pandacan from a heavy industrial zone to a commercial-residential zone.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and the City Council are pushing for the immediate phase out of the oil depot on the grounds that its presence in the middle of a highly-populated commercial and residential area pose a threat to the safety of residents.

Twenty-six of the 27 councilors present voted for the third reading approval of the ordinance authored by Councilor Jocelyn Asuncion. Councilor Cita Astals abstained. She did not give her reason.

Under the ordinance, the City Council reclassified the Pandacan area from a heavy industrialize zone to residential-commercial zone and, in effect, compelling the oil firms to relocate their facilities earlier than scheduled.

With the enactment of the ordinance, Councilor Kim Atienza, son of the mayor, said the city government would no longer renew the business permits of the oil firms.

"They (oil firms) have no alternative but to follow the ordinance," said the younger Atienza, who is the Council President Pro Tempore.

Meanwhile, Mayor Tobias Tiangco said he will not opposed the proposed transfer of the oil depot facilities to Navotas provided that all legal and other requirements are complied with and the project will benefit Navotas residents.

Tiangco made the statement Monday in a rejoinder to a comment of Malabon-Navotas Rep. Ricky Sandoval that Navotas can take in the oil depot problem of Manila.

The mayor revealed that, in fact, he and Sandoval had been discussing the possibility as early as three years ago.

"As long as the papers are in order and the project is thoroughly studied, I see virtually no opposition to his plan," Tiangco said stressing that consultations with the stakeholders and concerned agencies will have to be made.

The mayor said public hearings involving the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), municipal engineering, health, planning and technical offices will have to be conducted before the plan is finally presented to the Sangguniang Bayan for final evaluation and study.

He said they foresee no problem from the residents of areas around the prospective depot because they are eyeing a reclaimed area off the Navotas seacoast far from residential areas.

Tiangco, however, clarified that the oil companies involved have not made any formal initiatives on the depot’s transfer. – Cecille Suerte Felipe and Jerry Botial