Oil pipeline operator apologizes for leak

MANILA, Philippines - The First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) apologized yesterday for whatever shortcomings it was guilty of in the oil pipeline leak at Bangkal, Makati City but did not admit to being liable for the incident.

During a hearing conducted by the Senate yesterday, FPIC officer-in-charge Anthony Mabasa acknowledged the “great suffering, inconvenience and anxiety” the leak has caused residents of West Tower Condominium.

“To everyone, we sincerely ask for your understanding and forgiveness for all our shortcomings,” Mabasa said in a statement.

“We at FPIC now assure you, publicly, categorically, unconditionally, that though the ultimate liability has yet to be established, we take responsibility and will do whatever has to be done to compensate you fairly for the damages you have suffered and to clean up any environmental contamination that the leakage may have caused,” he added.

However, the apology, as well as a supposed P100,000 compensation offer from FPIC, was not accepted by the West Tower residents. The residents’ lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, said the offer to each of the residents was not a fair figure.

One resident said if FPIC gives the money to “squatters, they will be happy, but we are not squatters.”

Mabasa said that FPIC is “determined to do what is right as far as this incident is concerned.” For the meantime, the pipeline will remain closed until all of the necessary tests have been conducted and it is determined that its continued operation would be viable and safe. FPIC voluntarily shut down its pipeline last Oct. 27.

Pipeline shut off until further tests

The city government of Makati has not allowed the pipeline to reopen until it is conclusively determined that there are no other leaks anywhere else along the seven-kilometer stretch of the pipeline in the city.

“There has to be a certification about its worthiness. It should come from the (energy, environment and natural resources and public works and highways officials) because we don’t have the technical expertise for that,” said Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay Jr.

He said he wants to see the completion of the testing to be conducted jointly by Dr. Carlos Arcilla of the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS) and FPIC.

UP-NIGS was contracted by the city government to drill exploratory wells along the pipeline to see where the leaks were.

Senate committee on environment and natural resources chairman Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said that he would conduct an ocular inspection of the site this week before coming out with his committee report.

He urged the oil companies whose products pass through the pipeline to assist in the clean up, repairs and even remediation even though he does not think they are fully culpable for the leak.

Arcilla said that he wants to dig another 40 to 100 exploratory wells in order to determine the extent of the environmental impact of the leak.

He said the cleanup could run to billions of pesos so he suggested that a cleanup fund be established to help cover the cost.

As to the integrity of the pipeline, Arcilla said he believes that most of the pipeline could still be used. He said that other countries have older pipelines that are still being used and based on their initial tests on the FPIC pipeline, very little corrosion was found and “it can be argued that most of the pipe is still secure.”