Friday, March 23, 2007 Energy office appeals high’s court order on eviction of Manila oil depots
CITING its direct interest in the case, the Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reconsider its March 7 decision ordering the closure of the oil terminal at the Pandacan district in Manila.
In a motion to intervene, the DOE through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said the assailed City Ordinance 8027 has been deemed abandoned with the passage of Ordinance 8119, which gave the oil companies a period of seven years within which to gradually pull out their terminal and relocate to a new site.
"Since the two ordinances are patently in conflict with each other on the zoning classification of the Pandacan oil depot as well as the period within which the relocation of the businesses concerned should be made, Ordinance 8119, being a later local legislation, is deemed to have impliedly repealed Ordinance No. 8027," said Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera.
The energy department said Ordinance 8119 was passed by the Manila City Government on June 16, 2006 while the case over Ordinance 8027 was pending before the SC and none of the parties informed the court about the existence of the new ordinance.
Government lawyers further said the implementation of Ordinance 8027 constitutes undue encroachment upon the DOE's regulatory power on critical and vital activities involving energy products and resources.
They said in enacting pieces of legislation that do not merely regulate but call for the immediate removal of the Pandacan oil depot, the City of Manila effectively arrogated upon itself the DOE's exclusive power to establish and administer programs for the "distribution and storage of energy resources" as mandated in Republic Act (RA) 7368, the law creating the DOE.
The enforcement of the SC's ruling would then require the department to perform the "Herculean" task of immediately instituting, in six months, definite solutions to address the resulting fuel shortage and increase in pump prices in the country, the DOE said.
"The DOE's interest in the case is direct and immediate as City Ordinance 8027 encroaches upon the exclusive and national authority of the DOE over matters affecting the oil industry. Its implementation makes the DOE's national scope subservient to that of a city; and necessarily relegating the national interest it advances meekly to the sidelines," movants stated.
Devanadera also pointed out that the removal of the oil terminals from their current location would plunge Luzon into an oil shortage by 62 percent within 36 hours, pointing out while there are other alternative supply sources in Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, Navotas, Poro Point, La Union, Clark and Subic, these only have a collective storage capacity of only 188.5 million liters as compared to Pandacan's 203.117 million liters.
Fuel will likewise be rationed to motorists to reconcile the shortage with the fuel demands. To recoup their expenses, oil companies would be forced to adjust their prices, the DOE said.
"It is unquestionable that the operation of the facilities in the Pandacan oil terminal can be subject of reasonable regulation, albeit its immediate closure does not appear to be reasonable amid consistent with public interest, more so in the absence of a clear finding that the operation of the depot per se poses the perceived danger and security threat," it said.
The Pandacan oil depot supplies 50 percent of power generation, 73 percent aviation fuel, 70 percent of the shipping industries' needs, 90 percent lubricants and 25 percent of chemical to the entire country.
It also supplies 84 percent of Manila's fuel requirements, 50 percent of Luzon's consumption and 35 percent nationwide.
The ordinance also subjects the DOE to supervise the dismantling of pipelines connecting the Batangas depots to the Pandacan terminal in matter of months; of tearing apart in such short span of time, what took years to build and perfect.
Earlier, the three major industry players - Caltex, Shell and Petron - filed a motion before the SC asking it to reconsider its decision ordering them to move out of Manila.
In its March 7 decision, the SC First Division granted the petition for mandamus filed by the political party Social Justice Society and several Manila residents seeking to compel the Manila city officials to enforce Ordinance 8027.
The assailed ordinance reclassifies portions of the Manila districts of Pandacan and Sta. Ana from industrial to commercial and directs certain business owners and operators, including Caltex (Philippines), Inc., Petron Corporation and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation to cease from operating their businesses within six months from the ordinance's effectivity date.
The ordinance was enacted by the Manila City Council on Nov. 20, 2001 and was approved on Nov. 28, 2001. It took effect on Dec. 28, 1001.
The removal of the oil terminals from Pandacan however did not happen after the Manila City Government and the DOE entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the oil companies, which they agreed to just "scale down" the oil terminals. (ECV/Sunnex)
