MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - First Philippine Industrial Corporation (FPIC) said on Thursday the extent of the plume that seeped underground from its broken pipeline covers at least 9,000 square meters of the service road.
The plume covers Bonifacio Street to P. Garcia Street where the West Tower condominium is located and parts of Osmeña Highway.
CH2M Hill project manager Jong Piquero said initial findings showed that the plume was concentrated there, and has not reached heavily populated areas.
"The estimated remaining product unaccounted for underground is 8,000 drums or 1.6 million liters," Piquero said.
He added they already started drilling for the installation of product recovery wells that would be used to siphon off the fuel products.
However, it would take several days to determine the rate and the volume of products that can be siphoned off on a daily basis.
"Once ma-install namin we will conduct tests para malaman gaano kabilis at kadami ang papasok na produkto, para malaman din natin gaano katagal ang aabutin para matanggal lahat ng fuel products," he added.
FPIC officer-in-charge Anthony Mabasa said that in the last couple of days, the firm saw an opportunity to accelerate the remediation process.
He added the firm plans to put up protective nets as a precautionary measure for the coming New Year 's Eve celebrations despite a Makati City ordinance banning the use of firecrackers.