DOJ to reinvestigate Glorietta 2 blast

The Department of Justice will reinvestigate the October 2007 Glorietta 2 explosion amid allegations that the investigation three years ago was whitewashed to protect the previous administration. In an order dated October 26, 2010, Justice Sec. Leila de Lima designated Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong and State Prosecutor Gino Paolo Santiago to conduct the reinvestigation. De Lima tasked them to submit "reports of investigative agencies made relative to the blast, assess and evaluate existing evidence, gather more evidence and take additional statements of witnesses as may be available." Ong and Santiago were given 45 days to submit their report and recommendation. De Lima earlier said her department was keen on looking into the allegations of retired Army Col. Allan Sollano, former head of the Army Explosive and Ordnance Disposal (EOD), who claimed that the blast was not an accident but was allegedly caused by an explosive. Sollano said the inquiry into the explosion had been whitewashed to cover-up for the previous government under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This prompted De Lima to take potshots at the Arroyo administration's alleged penchant for covering up for controversies besetting it. "Why would a government be a party to an alleged cover-up? What's the ultimate agenda? Is it just part of the previous administration's propensity to lie and conceal?' she said. The blast happened at the height of the NBN-ZTE controversy, wherein the government signed a $329-million national broadband contract with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp. Arroyo scrapped the deal on September 22, 2007 when allegations of anomalies cropped up.–VVP, GMANews.TV