Hands-on, on-site, non-stop.

The men are working on the problem ‘round the clock, stupid!

Jingle lang ang pahinga, ‘ika nga.

A thoroughly exasperated and unfairly flailed First Philippine Industrial Corp., owner and  operator of the country’s largest commercial pipeline, doesn’t have to say what it has actually been doing, albeit quietly — working double time on the cleanup of the basement of the West Tower residential condominium in Bangkal, Makati,  hauling 24/7 the water contaminated by the leak from the company’s pipeline.

But more than siphoning off the dirty water, FPIC also vowed to install over the next three weeks an on-site treatment facility to meet the effluent or water-quality standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

FPIC’s pipeline transports crude and refined petroleum products from Batangas to  Metro Manila. It was established in 1967 primarily to service the fuel requirements of the Manila Electric Co. and the oil refineries in Batangas.

First Gen Corp. exercises organizational supervision over FPIC. The company is 60 percent owned by First Holdings in partnership with Shell Petroleum Co., Ltd. (UK), which holds the other 40-percent interest.

“FPIC and our contractors have been steadily working on hauling out  the contaminated water in the condo and will soon be able to treat the water  on-site in an environmentally compliant manner. Our goal is to be able to tell  West Tower residents that they can go back to their homes assured of the safety of their property and health,” FPIC president Tony Mabasa said.

Not only that. Cutting-edge technology is being used to get the job done  — fast and safe.

FPIC, through its contractor CH2MHiLL, an internationally recognized  environmental remediation company, has drilled six “product-recovery wells” and is currently adding some more in the Bangkal area for the environmental  “remediation” or cleanup.

According to CH2MHiLL, the design for the “multi-phase extraction” system is  being finalized in the United States. This system is deemed to be the more  permanent solution to the cleanup.

But before Ped Xing stands accused of being chummy with FPIC, let us go  back to the reason why the company was not able to promptly do the cleanup in the first place.

It turned out that FPIC was not able to act as swiftly as it wanted to since –  get this — the condominium association refused accept its offer to do the cleanup and treatment of the wastewater. The reason?  They already have a contractor.

Unbelievable but true.

FPIC eventually took over the job from the  preferred contractor, Bensan

Industries, Inc. only after the latter’s operations were stopped by the DENR’s

Environment Management Bureau- National Capital Region following its failure to pass the effluent or water-quality standards.

The DENR-EMB-NCR subsequently issued a cease-and-desist order only last February.

The resulting work interruption caused the flooding at the condo’s basement.

Following the issuance of CDO, FPIC immediately notified West Tower dwellers of its  willingness to proceed with the work and subsequently completed and submitted documents required by West Tower Association and concerned agencies.

Just last March 3, the City Engineer of Makati instructed WTA to allow FPIC to  begin working. FPIC contracted three waste-water treatment outfits to haul and transport the waste water to their respective treatment storage and disposal facilities  starting last March 9, with over nine trucks arriving  daily at the WT, and  continuing without let-up .

All on-site work was coordinated with the DENR, Makati City Engineer’s Office, Barangay Bangkal, Bureau of Fire Protection, MAPSA, the National Police, and the  residents of nearby streets. 

“All these are geared at the full rehabilitation  at the soonest possible time of the affected areas at the West Tower condominium,”  Mabasa said.