The personnel tapped by the West Tower Condominium in Barangay Bangkal, Makati City to pump out the water supposedly contaminated with petroleum-based products were given an ultimatum to finish their operations on July 29, 2010.

The Makati City government issued the deadline, hinting a possible cancellation of the occupancy permit of the said condominium should they fail to comply with the deadline.

However, the management of West Tower said that it would be hard to comply with the deadline because of the nature of the mixture of the water at the basement of the said building.

Residents of the condominium now face the possibility of not being able to return to their respective units, once the city government of Makati cancels West Tower's permit.

A few weeks ago, residents complained of a foul odor emanating from the basement.

The Burea of Fire Protection (BFP) as well as representatives from the City Engineers Office of Makati inspected the area following the evacuation of all its' occupants.

The building's basement has since been cordoned-off, as authorities conducted diggings
along the pipelines which were first thought to have been the cause of the gas leak.

It was learned that the said pipeline runs from Batangas to the Pandacan oil depot. The
temporary closure of the pipeline initially caused a shortage of oil products in some areas in Metro Manila.

The operations of the pipeline eventually resumed to normal after authorities decided to look into other possibilities for the cause of the gas leak.

Since then, investigators handling the case still have not been able to determine the true cause of the gas leak.

BFP National Capital Region (NCR) Chief Superintendent Pablito Cordeta who earlier went to the site to investigate, surmised that at least 25 percent of the water at the basement was mixed with another substance, possibly kerosene or gasoline.