Nearly a century has passed since the decision was taken to locate oil depots in Pandacan.
At that time, the decision might have seemed wise. Pandacan was a sleepy suburban district well beyond hustle and bustle of Manila’s central business districts of Quiapo and Sta. Cruz. It was well away from the stately mansions that dotted Malate and Ermita. Only a few decades before, Malacanang Palace, which was closer to the city center, was built as the Spanish governor-general’s summer residence.
The population of that area was, well, sparse by contemporary standards. The entire archipelago had a total population of about 20 million. Only a few hundred must have resided in the Pandacan area.
The first storage tanks must have been miniscule compared to what we have now. There were few cars on the road and much of the oil must have been used for small power plants, a handful of trucks and steamers that docked at the Manila port.
The flourishing Pasig River provided excellent access to the oil depots. At that time, people drew fresh water from the river to drink. The river was clean enough to bathe in and do laundry in.
That was nearly a century ago.
Today, Pandacan sits right in the middle of an expanding metropolis. Pasig River is dead, in part because of the toxic chemicals dumped by the oil depots and oil-hungry industries that lined the river’s banks.
On the perimeter of the oil depots, 80,000 people live in crowded housing accessible only through choked roadways. There has been, as one oil giant pointed in its paid ads the other day, no major accident at the depots.
That is fortunate. A major accident at the Pandacan oil depots will take a shuddering toll on the surrounding communities.
We could choose to tempt the fates or improve the odds to our favor.
When Lito Atienza was mayor of Manila, he moved strongly to have the depots relocated to a safer place. The safety of Manila residents was an obvious concern. Ecological rehabilitation was a consideration as well. There is no way life could be restored to the Pasig River unless the oil depots are taken off its banks.
When he was mayor, City Ordinance 8027 was passed. This classified Pandacan as a residential zone, thereby making the tenure of the oil depots there untenable.
The oil companies sought judicial relief from the effects of the ordinance. Moving the depots out of the city would be horribly inconvenient. Tens of millions will have to be spent for the relocation. That sum will be passed on to the oil consumers, pushing up pump prices for the hazardous commodity.
Those who thought small and understood only the most imminent things agreed. The residents around the depots, many of them employed in the facilities, vigorously opposed relocation. Pollution, poisoned rivers and the possibility of a raging inferno were all abstract considerations. They had jobs and a lifestyle of inhaling hydrocarbon fumes to protect.
An exemplary amount of political will was required to do what is right with the oil depots. Relocation will be expensive and inconvenient and, to the narrow constituency around the depots, unpopular. But the danger posed by the continued stay of the oil depots where they are is simply unthinkable.
Atienza had the political will to get that done. We do not know if the incumbent mayor has what it takes to do what is right.
Early last month, city councilors introduced draft ordinance 7177 that amends Ordinance 8027. The draft restores the classification of Pandacan to an industrial zone. So that there may be no confusion about what that implies, the draft ordinance specifies 57 highly polluting and hazardous industries as allowable to operate in the district and along the length of the Pasig River as it winds through the City of Manila.
The draft ordinance is like a death sentence on the river: never again will natural life be allowed to prosper in its stinking waters.
The draft ordinance also lays down the welcome mat for the oil companies to use the inner-city depots for as long as they want to. There will be, to be sure, champagne bottles bursting in the boardrooms of the oil giants once that ordinance is passed. That will represent savings in the millions from not having to relocate to distant depots away from crowded communities.
Subic has large oil tanks buried underground, safe from even severe aerial bombardment. That was built by the US Navy to secure oil supplies for its armada during the height of the Cold War.
Subic, however, is considered too far. Better unsafe but near, if the oil companies have their way.
But in this age of improvised explosive devices in the hands of crazy men, most of us would rather not have millions of liters of oil stored in the midst of thousands of highly combustible homes.
Mayor Alfredo Lim sat like a sphinx as this controversial draft ordinance took shape. The draft ordinance is, after all, popular among Pandacan residents who constitute a dense, if dumb, voting base.
Reports have it that under pressure from the Archbishop of Manila, Mayor Lim has promised to veto the proposed pro-pollution resolution. For our own safety, let’s hope that he does.