LPG plant sued for operating sans BFP permit
The protracted issue against a liquified petroleum gas facility in the City of Naga has reached the court when at least 14 residents of barangay Langtad filed last Tuesday a civil suit against Petronas Energy Philippines Inc. for operating without a fire safety certification.
They are asking the Regional Trial Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and eventually an injunction to stop Petronas Energy Philippines Inc. from operating its storage facility in their barangay.
Assisted by lawyer Julius Caesar Entise, the plaintiffs also asked the court to command the Naga City Government represented by Mayor Val Chiong to refrain from issuing a mayor’s permit or business permit and occupancy permit, or cancel it if one was already issued.
Naga City Government was also named defendant in the case.
According to the plaintiffs, the Petronas LPG storage and supply facility which has a capacity of storing P2.2 million liters of LPG, has been operating without a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate (FSIC), one of the requirements in securing a business certificate from the city.
Entise, the counsel of the plaintiffs, said they decided to seek the court’s intervention after their appeals to stop the operations of the Petronas LPG storage and supply facility has been ignored despite the present danger the community is facing.
“It remains a mystery to us why despite formal admissions by the BFP that the Petronas plant has no Fire Safety Inspection Certificate, its operations has been tolerated,” he said in a press release.
The Comprehensive Fire Code of the Philippines states that “no occupancy permit, business or permit to operate shall be issued without securing a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate from the chief of the BFP or his/her authorized representative.”
Entise said they were constrained to file a case in court because requests to stop the operations of the LPG storage tanks have been ignored.
“They have written the mayor of Naga three times, asking the local chief executive for help. But they did not get any reply from City Hall,” he added.
Last March, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) admitted during a Provincial Board inquiry that it has not renewed the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate of Petronas Energy Philippines Inc. for its LPG storage and supply facility in Naga City.
Entice said the Fire Code of the Philippines requires LPG storage facilities with more than 378,000 liters capacity to have a minimum safety distance of 122 meters “measured from the edges of colossal LPG storage tanks to the nearest building or boundaries of adjoining properties.”
He said the Petronas storage tanks have been established factually in a BFP investigation report to be just 65.5 meters.
No irregularity
William Cabibil, engineering services manager of Petronas, earlier explained that they have complied with safety standards and their LPG plant is equipped with fire safety system.
The Petronas LPG storage and supply facility in Naga City installed a gas detection system, automatic shutdown system, automatic deluge sprinkler system, automatic smoke or fire alarm system and a combination of wet and dry standpipe system in all the facilities in the five-hectare plant.
A built-in uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and a 500-horsepower generator also serves as standby backup power source, all of which are automatic and digital.
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