Makati City government officials on Monday will hold an emergency meeting with operators and owners of all gasoline stations in the city to prevent a repeat of the potentially disastrous gas leak in Barangay Bangkal.
Mayor Abigail Binay tapped acting city administrator Michael Camina to call for an urgent meeting scheduled at 1 pm Monday in City Hall to discuss preemptive measures and security matters to ensure public safety.
Camina said Binay wants the gasoline station owners to ensure regular inspections of their fuel line and tanks, and to promptly notify City Hall should there be any problem.
“We need to reiterate safety guidelines for gasoline stations to prevent any more gas leaks in the future. Business owners should see to it that their fuel line and tanks are regularly and thoroughly inspected. Their managers must also keep track of daily sales volume versus inventory to detect any large discrepancy that may indicate a leak,” Camiña said.
Binay, meanwhile, commended the Makati Fire Department and city officials comprising the Makati Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for their immediate response to contain the leak from Phoenix Gasoline Station located at the corner of Estrella and Evangelista Streets that flowed into the drainage system in the barangay.
The gas leak was verified Wednesday evening by an investigation team from the fire bureau and was subsequently traced to the Phoenix Gasoline Station.
Binay said within 24 hours after Makati Fire Marshal Roy Quisto first notified MDRRMC members about the gas leak, it was effectively resolved without causing any damage to lives and properties.
“A potentially disastrous incident has been averted, thanks to the fast action and effective collaboration among key officials of the local DRRM Council from the protective and administrative sectors,” said Binay.
The mayor attributed the successful resolution of the incident to the close coordination between key officials of City Hall and the fire bureau, who maintained constant communication and exchanged real-time and accurate information on the ongoing operations at the site of the gas leak.
“From the wee hours of Nov. 1 until daybreak of Nov. 2, they closely monitored the status of operations and gas levels at the affected area. Key decision-makers were able to issue appropriate directives with dispatch, resulting in the timely implementation of precautionary measures to ensure public safety,” Binay said.
The city government also formed a task force on the incident and a command center was immediately set up at the site last Thursday.
Ambulance teams were deployed there to be on standby for any emergency and the city-run Ospital ng Makati was also alerted for possible emergency cases arising from the gas leak.
The affected area was cordoned off and the perimeter was secured by auxiliary personnel of the Public Safety Department. Traffic enforcers were also deployed to manage traffic rerouting.
Meanwhile, a team of firefighters went around the surrounding streets with megaphones to alert residents about the gas leak and warn them against smoking and other precautionary measures while the problem was being resolved.
Vice Mayor Monique Lagdameo said a third party contracted by Phoenix was scheduled to conduct another hydrotesting and the results of both tests will be compared to pinpoint which tank and product the leak came from.
In 2010, a gas leak also happened in the same barangay. Then Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay hired a team of experts to find the source of the fuel leak and those responsible.
The team found out later that leak came from the 117-kilometer long pipeline owned by the First Philippine Industrial Corp.
Because of the leak and health concerns, occupants of the nearby 22-story West Tower Condominium were evacuated.
The pipeline was built in 1969 and provides around 60 percent of Metro Manila’s fuel supply through the Pandacan depot, the country’s largest oil depot.
FPIC officials issued an apology to those affected by the incident.
