MMDA: Fuel tankers exempted from truck ban

To avert a looming fuel shortage in Metro Manila due to the shutting down of a leaking fuel pipeline in Makati City, oil tankers carrying petroleum products from Batangas refineries would be exempted from the truck ban on certain times of day. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino made the announcement on Tuesday amid the closure of the First Philippine Industrial Corp (FPIC) pipeline. Tolentino said the decision was reached after the FPIC warned of a fuel supply shortage in the Metropolis due to the closing down of the its fuel conduit. But Tolentino said the exemption will only take effect once the MMDA gets an official request from the Department of Energy. Cargo trucks are banned in Metro Manila from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday. The FPIC pipelines were temporarily shut down for repairs, after geologists from the University of the Philippines discovered that this was the source of a three-month long gas leak beneath a building in Makati City. FPIC's Leonides Garde, president of the Lopez-owned firm, earlier warned of a fuel shortage if their pipelines are shut. The firm, which supplies 50 to 60 percent of fuel used in Metro Manila, has two pipelines running underground, carrying gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel from refineries in Batangas, supplying oil depots in Pandacan in Manila and in Parañaque. Oil giants Chevron Philippines and Pilipinas Shell are two of the firms that source the biggest refined fuel supply from FPIC. Garde warned that if the pipelines were shut down, their supply of fuel would have to be delivered on land through fuel trucks – a task that is enormous. "Ang kakailanganin ay 500 to 1,000 trucks a day. Hindi ko alam kung makakalusot iyan sa traffic natin ngayon," Garde said in an earlier interview on dzBB. Meanwhile, Tolentino said that with the exemption, motorists can expect between 100 and 500 fuel tanks from FPIC to be plying the roads of Metro Manila until the pipelines are re-opened. Authorities discovered the leak at the basement of 22-storey West Tower condominium at the corner of South Super Highway and Del Pilar Street last July. But excavation began only last Thursday after UP geologists discovered a new gas leak in the area, this time along the south-bound service road of Osmeña Highway in Barangay Bangkal, just a few meters from West Tower. For the third time, the FPIC shut down the pipeline Thursday, July 28. The first was on July 12, but it and resumed operations on July 15. The conduit was closed again on July 21 and resumed operations on July 24. — LBG, GMANews.TV