PNP Final Report: Glorietta 2 Blast Not Bomb Attack
Hereunder is an Update News from The Philippine Daily Inquirer dtd 23 November 2007 re-bombing at Glorietta 2, Makati, Philippines
PNP final report: Glorietta 2 blast not bomb attack
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — It’s official: the Multi-Agency Investigation Task Force looking into the deadly blast at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City on Oct. 19 has concluded that it was a gas explosion, and not a bomb attack.
Speaking at a press conference Thursday in Camp Crame, Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman said that “after the examination of all the pieces of evidence collected from the blast site and the thorough conduct of a post-blast investigation,” the task force had found “that the incident was not a bomb explosion but a gas explosion.”
Ticman, who heads the task force, said the investigation was “scientific” and had “made use of forensics, and even mathematics.”
The task force is composed of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Bomb Data Center, Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation and the Makati police’s Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD).
The explosion killed 11 people and injured more than 100 others.
Asked to comment, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), owner of the Glorietta shopping complex, said it was standing by its position that the explosion could not have been triggered by methane gas or diesel fumes.
“We are saddened by these developments and we do not understand how they are able to establish these findings conclusively since our own experts have ruled out methane or diesel as the cause of the explosion. And we see no other possible source of gas that could create this kind of explosion and this much damage,” ALI spokesperson Alfonso Reyes said.
Reyes also said ALI had not seen a copy of the task force’s final report but was made aware that this would be issued in two weeks.
“We hope that the site will be turned over to us at the soonest possible time so that we can carry on with our own evaluation in the search for the truth,” he said.
ALI has yet to determine the cause of the explosion based on its own evaluation of the damaged site.
No bomb parts
Ticman said that:
• No bomb parts had been found. (“No IED [improvised explosive device] component or part was recovered in the basement [of the mall] or anywhere in the affected area”).
• Neither was there a bomb crater. Initially, investigators found suspected craters, but found no trace of a “thermal effect” and explosives residue that would indicate the use of a bomb.
• Nor were there explosive materials in the liquid samples and in the diesel fuel from the tank (both in the mall basement), as well as on the skin and clothing of the victims who survived the blast.
“All victims died from traumatic injuries and not from a bomb explosion. Those who died, as well as those who were injured, tested negative for explosive residue,” Ticman said.
According to Ticman, the initial finding of RDX — a component of the C4 military explosive — recovered on the ground floor “did not cause or initiate the explosive.”
“It was not corroborated by other evidence and it was not significant in the explosion,” Ticman said.
Investigators also found no evidence of a tearing effect usually found in a bomb site, he said.
There was also no soot or blackening on the ceiling of the basement or on the supposed bomb craters. Such an absence “indicates that the explosion was not caused by a bomb,” he said.
Final activities
Ticman said pumps, switches, circuit breakers and other electrical equipment in the basement were being examined by the NBI to find out the ignition.
He said investigators were processing the area outside the blast site — meaning the ground floor up to the third floor of the mall — to document the damage caused by the explosion.
Ticman said experts called in by the PNP were finalizing their simulations, experiments and computations.
“Investigators are consolidating the statements, reports, pieces of evidence and documents needed in the filing of appropriate charges against the parties concerned and the preparation of the final report,” he said.
Ticman also said the task force had taken note of the findings submitted by an expert hired by ALI.
“We are seriously considering that, and our own experts will be able to provide answers to their questions,” he said.
2-3 weeks
National Capital Region Police Office Director Geary Barias said the task force would complete its final report in two to three weeks and file the charges against those responsible soon after.
He did not name names, but said those liable could be the contractors hired to do work in the basement and the mall administrators.
“We are not yet at that part where we can identify who can be charged. For sure, negligence cannot be discounted here,” he said.
Barias said the task force did not hold the press conference to condition the people’s minds to the gas explosion theory.
“We are just giving an update of the investigation because many people want to know what’s the latest,” he said.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has yet to be apprised of the task force’s conclusion, according to Supt. Gilbert Cruz, chief of the Makati police.
Binay had earlier expressed doubt on the gas explosion theory and had called for an independent inquiry.
Not negligence
Asked about the planned filing of charges against those liable for the explosion, ALI’s Reyes said: “It is speculative to talk about negligence when no charges have been filed and the authorities have not revealed the basis for their conclusion. Nevertheless, we believe that these facilities have been maintained with proper care and diligence, and that negligence was not a contributory factor to the cause of the explosion.”
The Glorietta 2 basement was under the direct control of the Makati Supermarket, which has a land-lease contract with ALI although both tenant and landlord were responsible for the maintenance of the building.
Citing the findings of its own foreign consultants, ALI had earlier disputed the theory that a buildup of methane gas and diesel fumes triggered the explosion at Glorietta 2.
ALI had suggested that the police abandon their “primary hypothesis” that the combination of methane from the sump pits and fumes from the diesel tank in the basement caused the blast, and called on investigators to look into other possibilities.
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