West Tower unit owners welcome new probe into Makati fuel leak

MANILA, Philippines - The owners of the units in West Tower Condominium in Bangkal, Makati City welcomed yesterday the city government’s move to set up an independent inter-agency task force to investigate the main source and extent of the underground fuel spill.

The unit owners, led by Ruby Chuaunsu, said the underground fuel spill poses a great danger to the community. She said Bangkal is home to many working class Filipino families.

The discovery of a fuel seepage in the basement of West Tower prompted authorities to place the area under high alert for more than two months.

“Since then, several deep well water pumps in the area, which draw groundwater, have been tested to have traces of gasoline, indicating a wider (spill) area. The West Tower residents are appealing for the speedy resolution of the fuel spill by finding the source and plugging the leak as soon as possible,” the West Tower unit owners said.

Chuaunsu said the West Tower, which has a deep foundation, was reported to be the first to be affected by the fuel leak last July 10.

“Please make the leak stop! We don’t want the whole barangay to go up in flames,” she said.

Chuaunsu said a gas pipeline leaked and exploded last Sept. 9, razing nearly 40 homes in San Bruno, California.

She said the West Tower’s basement was flooded after the city government shut down the sump pit pump in the building.

Chuaunsu said a wastewater treatment system was installed in the building on Aug. 23.

“West Tower residents have cleared the flooding in its basement in early September. Government officials can now enter the basement and start investigating the fuel spill,” architect Bobby Dimayuga, head of the West Tower rehabilitation team, said.

Dimayuga said as of Sept. 20, they have collected more than 42,000 liters of petroleum products with mixed grades (gasoline, kerosene, diesel).

“Since then, the building has collected around 1,200 liters of new fuel seepage on a daily basis – an amount that can fill up the tanks of 24 cars. The amount of petroleum products collected indicates that the source is not from the building as earlier alleged by some quarters,” Dimayuga said.