Plugging holes: Map and timeline of FPIC fuel leak

The map and timeline below trace the sequence of events in the FPIC fuel leak controversy. July 9: Gas leak first detected Residents of the West Tower Condominium in Barangay Bangkal, Makati City report the odor of fuel fumes in the building’s basement. July 12: FPIC shuts down pipeline The First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) closes its pipeline to dig up a section near West Tower and determine if the pipe has sprung a leak. The results are negative. July 15: FPIC reopens pipeline The FPIC reopens the fuel pipeline after a 5-hour test run confirming it has no leak. July 20: West Tower vacated The Makati city government orders West Tower residents to vacate the building due to the persistent smell of gas. The local government also ordered the building management to shut down its sump pumps, resulting in water buildup in the basement. July 21: FPIC shuts down pipeline again The FPIC shuts down the pipeline for the second time in order to conduct tests for the presence of gas and petroleum products, as requested by the Makati city government. The test results come out negative for soil samples, but positive for water samples. July 24: FPIC reopens pipeline again The FPIC reopens the fuel pipeline after informing Makati officials that the required tests have been concluded. July 27: Makati LGU clears FPIC as source of leak The Makati City Engineer rules out the FPIC pipeline as the source of the gas leak. The local government unit also ordered the West Tower management to clear out the flooded basement within seven days, in order for agencies to investigate if diesel tanks buried beneath the basement are the source of the leak. July 29: DOE also clears FPIC The Department of Energy announces that the FPIC had nothing to do with the gas seeping into the basement of West Tower. Sept. 7: Flooded basement cleared West Tower management informs city officials and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that the water in the flooded basement has been removed. However, fuel continues to leak into the chamber and contractors have been draining around 1,600-2,200 liters of petroleum products daily from the basement since July. Sept. 13: Government clears West Tower as source of leak Representatives from the DOE, DENR, and Makati city government investigate West Tower’s premises and eliminate the building as the source of the leak. Sept. 20: FPIC hires contractor to search for leak FPIC hires two contractors to search for leaks in the pipeline using Ground Penetrating Radar systems. Sept. 30-Oct. 4: Contractors report soil disturbance One contractor reported “soil disturbances" in four areas along the pipeline and five near West Tower. The other contractor also reported soil saturation near the condo, and said there was a 15 meter-long metal object buried 1.6 to two meters below a nearby street. Oct. 10: Makati LGU seeks help from UP-NIGS The Makati City Government requests the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines for assistance in tracing the leak in the fuel pipeline. Oct. 16: UP-NIGS starts drilling wells NIGS director Carlo Arcilla and a team of hydrogeologists, engineers, and other scientists start drilling exploratory wells to search for the leak. Oct. 21: FPIC begins excavation to search for leak As the source of the seepage remains undetected, government authorities order FPIC to undertake a complete exploratory excavation, and FPIC begins digging an entire stretch of the pipeline near West Tower. Oct. 28: Gas leak traced to FPIC pipeline, which is shut down for the 3rd time The NIGS team finds a defective part in the FPIC pipeline some 100 meters southeast of West Tower, along the southbound service road of Osmeña Highway, indicating a leak in the pipes directly under the ramp of the Magallanes flyover in Makati. Nov. 2: MMDA lifts truck ban for fuel trucks To avert fuel shortage, the Metro Manila Development Authority eases the truck ban for fuel trucks delivering petroleum products from Batangas to Manila, following reports that the repair of the pipeline could take up to three weeks. Nov. 4: Diggings cause crack in Magallanes flyover Authorities close down the Magallanes interchange for trucks and other heavy vehicles due to concerns about its structural integrity, after the excavation work of FPIC causes a crack in the support beam of the flyover. Nov. 5: FPIC halts digging FPIC stops its excavation work and shores up the flyover at the base to maintain the integrity of the structure. Nov. 8: FPIC finds holes in pipeline After months of denial, FPIC announces that it has found five holes in its aging pipeline that caused the seepage of fuel into the West Tower basement. Last Monday, November 8, the FPIC assured the public that its 43-year old pipeline will be repaired this week, but the story of the fuel leak is far from over. It will continue to affect the lives of people not only in Makati, but also the rest of Metro Manila which is the country's commercial center, as long as FPIC and the government do not take long-term measures to find alternatives to the aging pipeline. A cautionary tale From the moment the first gas fumes were detected more than four months ago in a condominium building until the day excavation crews finally pinpointed the source of the fuel seepage, the story of the Makati pipeline leak is a cautionary tale of how a neglected problem can ripple outwards and cause bigger headaches for an increasing number of people. Since July, officials had been scrambling to find the source of the leak — some 1,600 to 2,200 liters of gasoline, kerosene, and diesel were draining daily into the basement of West Tower condominium and seeping into the surrounding area. Water from nine pumps in Barangay Bangkal in Makati City has been declared non-potable because of possible contamination. But the most beleaguered are the residents of West Tower, who were blamed for the leak then ended up spending their own money – around P7 million – to drain their basement after they were forced to leave their homes. Initially, the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) denied accusations that their 120-km pipeline, which transports over eight million liters of fuel from refineries in Batangas to depots in Manila every day, was the source of the Makati fuel leak. The Makati city government and national government agencies cleared FPIC, no doubt cognizant of the fact that the pipeline supplies up to 60 per cent of fuel needs in the country’s capital. Four months later, it took experts from the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS) to identify the FPIC pipeline in Makati as the culprit. “We will not know the actual extent of the contamination until we drill many monitoring wells... [Contamination] could [reach] several blocks downstream of the pipeline leak. Deep wells may be compromised," said UP-NIGS director Carlo Arcilla. The FPIC pipeline was shut down for the third time, this time resulting in a fuel shortage due to the prolonged period of closure. The subsequent diggings also damaged the Magallanes flyover, snarling traffic in the central business district of Makati. - YA/HS, GMANews.TV