SC to review transfer of Pandacan oil depot

The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to review a ban on oil depots in Manila after petroleum firms warned that it could lead to severe economic disruptions.

The city government ban on the oil terminals of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Philippines Corp. and Chevron, issued shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

But the oil firms appealed the court ruling last week, warning of a "disastrous chain of events" should the government shut down the terminals along Manila’s Pasig River that supply about half the capital’s needs, including 1,800 retail stations.

The Supreme Court scheduled an oral argument on the issue on April 2 and ordered all concerned parties to appear.

"In view of the importance of this case from a historical perspective and the impact on the economy of the relocation… it would best serve the interest of justice to afford all the parties, including movant-intervenors, the opportunity to ventilate and articulate their respective views and positions before the court," the SC said in its en banc resolution.

The High Court also ordered the petitioners for the transfer of the depot – the political party Social Justice Society and private petitioners Vladimir Cabigao, and Bonifacio Tumbokon – to file their respective comments on the motion for reconsideration filed by oil companies Chevron (formerly Caltex), Petron and Shell.

Last Thursday, the Department of Energy (DOE) filed an appeal before the Supreme Court asking the High Court to reconsider its March 7 decision ordering the city government of Manila to remove and relocate the oil depot in Pandacan.

The three oil companies filed a similar motion earlier.

In a 29-page motion for intervention, the DOE stressed that Manila City Ordinance 8119, which was passed on June 16, 2006, allowed the oil depot in Pandacan to continue operating and gave the three oil companies using the depot – Petron, Shell and Chevron – a grace period of seven years to relocate to another site.

According to the DOE, Ordinance 8119 was passed into law while the case was pending before the High Court, and none of the parties informed the High Court about its existence.

Last March 7, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate pull-out of the oil terminals in Pandacan by virtue of Ordinance 8027, which took effect on December 2001. The High Court also cited a possible terrorist threat to the depot in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

The SC added that the city government of Manila should implement Ordinance 8027 "as long as it has not been repealed by the Manila City Council or annulled by the courts."

The DOE stressed that Ordinance 8119 effectively repealed Ordinance 8027 insofar as the zoning classification of the Pandacan area is concerned.

Ordinance 8027 gave oil companies six months to cease its operations and relocate while Ordinance 8119 gave them seven years to phase out. – With AFP