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Accident ‘high certainty’ in Glorietta blast - DILG chief


(Updated 2:22 p.m.) Government investigators conveyed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday information which allegedly showed a "high" probability that last Friday's explosion at the Glorietta 2 shopping mall in Makati City was an accident. The Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership reported their findings to the National Security Council (NSC) four days after the explosion. Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, concurrently presidential political adviser, told reporters that the PNP reported that there is "high certainty" that the blast was accidental, QTV Balitanghali reported. However, radio dzBB said Director Gen. Avelino Razon Jr, Philippine National Police chief, told the President that investigators have not dismissed the bombing angle even though evidence at hand tended to show a different cause. Razon was quoted as saying that the probe has not been concluded and that all possible angles were being checked. The blast left 11 people dead and over a hundred others injured. "Ang masasabi natin lamang ang theory na accidental gas explosions based on the facts and evidence that we have gathered in the scene but we are not totally discarding the bomb blast. The investigation continues to proceed at nagpapatuloy pa rin tayo to look at all angles,"Razon said. The police chief said the PNP was still awaiting word from forensic experts before totally shelving the possibility that it was caused by a bomb. "(President Arroyo) ordered that a conference be undertaken with the experts not only local experts, itong tumutulong sa atin sa investigation, kundi kasama pati ang FBI and AFP experts,"he added. PNP bomb experts earlier detected the presence of RDX, the main component for the production of C-4 military plastic explosives. However, Puno on Tuesday said the evidence would still show that the explosion was an accident since RDX can allegedly be found on everyday items. These items, Puno said, include aerosols and cosmetics. Puno also said the PNP maintained that the hole on the mall's diesel tank bolstered suspicions that the explosion was not deliberately carried out. Investigators have yet to recover any bomb components from the scene. What was believed to be a crater on the floor, Razon said, was actually a stairwell that led to the basement. President Arroyo reportedly conveyed that she was satisfied with the investigation findings so far, but ordered the PNP to continue coordinating with experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Australia. In a related development, Puno ordered more inspections of malls, condominiums and similar structures in the wake of the incident. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales was now inclined to believe that the Glorietta explosion was an accident and not an act of terror, which he earlier suspected was the cause. He advised building owners to inspect their structures's basements to prevent a repeat of Glorietta incident. NCRPO rules out bombing As this developed, the Metro Manila police on Tuesday ruled out bombing as the cause of last Friday's Glorietta 2 incident. Police Director Geary Barias, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the deadly blast was more likely triggered by gas that leaked from the mall's basement. "The Philippine Bomb Data Center, together with the EOD (explosives and ordnance division) and SOCO (scene of the crime operations), completed yesterday (Monday) the post-blast investigation," Barias said in an interview over radio dzMM. Barias said the significant findings are the following: 1) no traces of Improvised Explosive Device component were found; 2) there was no crater found; and, 3) there was no ventilation at the basement for air circulation. "What I can say is it's very difficult to support the theory of (bombing) in the absence of the two critical things," Barias said in referring to the first two findings. Barias said the physical effects of the incident support, on the other hand, the gas explosion theory, particularly the upward direction of the blast. "The petro-chemical experts also examined the layout of the fuel tank and their finding is that it did not follow the standard cylindrical structure that would cause an even distribution of the pressure. Their tank is rectangular and this might have contributed to the explosion," he said. Asked about the liability of the basement operator, Barias said: "That should be a necessary consequence of the investigation because people died and people were injured. So there should be some criminal liability and civil liability for that." The investigators, however, have yet to identify those who have responsibility over the facility. Methane blast doubted As this developed, a chemical engineer at the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) expressed his opinion Tuesday that methane gas could not have caused the explosion. Saying that he does not want to be quoted as an expert, the source said it is a general knowledge that methane is a flammable gas common in all decaying organic matter. The combustible gas is also present in human feces and so in septic tanks. "But an explosion of that magnitude would not come from methane alone," he said. Superintendent Fennimore Jaudian, chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Inter-agency Task Force, earlier said the "physical effects" of the blast show signs of a possible methane gas explosion. He said the methane gas could come from the sewage system at the basement of Glorietta 2 where a diesel tank is also located. "Based on the physical effects of explosion, it points to gas explosion. And the possibility (that we’re considering) is methane," said Jaudian. In the interview, Jaudian said the "methane gas explosion" angle has figured consistently in investigation conducted by his team composed of investigators from the Bureau of Fire Protection and the National Bureau of Investigation. - with a report from Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV
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