Philippines: Owners of Mall Claim blast caused by bomb

Many distrust the PNP (Philippine National Police) but in this case the owners of the Mall may be facing charges since the explosion is in effect the owner's fault. It certainly is in the owners' interest for the explosion to be terrorist related.
Maybe the owners should have given a hefty donation to the PNP benevolent fund or whatever they have! In this case there were also international investigators helping the PNP. There really doesn't seem to be any reason for the PNP to want to make the blast not terror related if it were. If it were terror related this would be reason for the PNP to ask for a bigger budget since it would show just how bad the terrorist menace is! It seems to me that the PNP request for counter-evidence is eminently sensible.


PNP to ALI: Disprove gas findings



01/09/2008

With Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) insisting that the explosion that ripped through the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City which killed 11 persons and injured over a hundred last year was caused by a powerful bomb, the Philippine National Police (PNP) countered this claim by saying Ayala should disprove the police team’s findings.

Earlier yesterday, ANC cable TV reported that an independent probe conducted by foreign experts hired by ALI found that the Glorietta 2 mall explosion was definitely caused by a powerful bomb, as RDX, a component of C4, over which only the military has control, was found by the international experts at the site of the blast.

As reported by ANC, a source told ABS-CBN that ALI hired foreign experts to make sure that the PNP’s probe and findings into the mall explosion would be accurate.

ANC reported that its source who it said is privy to the result of the ALI independent probe informed the TV station that foreign experts found that the explosion was caused by a bomb with RDX components.

The source was quoted as saying the foreign experts who examined the blast site at the Glorietta 2 mall recovered enough RDX traces to conclude that the explosion was caused by a bomb.

A team of police bomb experts who examined the mall’s blast site initially reported the recovery of RDX residue. This was later changed by the PNP, saying the recovery of traces of RDX cannot be used to conclude that a bomb caused the explosion at the mall.

Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno, ANC reported, upon being informed of the ALI probe results, said ALI does not have the authority to





investigate the blast.

“They can provide expert testimony, but the use of the word investigate is pretentious. They are not investigators,” Puno said, adding that only the police have the official authority to conduct post-blast investigations.

The PNP yesterday stood pat on its findings that the Oct. 19 explosion at the Glorieta mall was an industrial accident and not from a bomb.

PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said investigators have established that the blast was triggered by a methane gas and diesel fuel.

He said the outcome of their investigation would not be changed or reversed unless the mall owners offer evidence to controvert the findings of the Multi-Agency Investigating Task Force.

“I will repeat, we will not let or we will believe (the mall owners findings) only if it is based on evidence. If they can offer evidence, then we will look into it,” Razon told the weekly “Talakayan sa Isyung Pampulis in Camp Crame.”

“But they have no evidence. So our findings stay, unless it is controverted by other evidence... As we have said, we will base our investigation based on evidence,” Razon said.

“(We need) evidence that will controvert (our) evidence that we established, the diesel tank, electrical switches, leakage on the septic vault, the degradation of the ventilation by closing area in the atrium. We need to see the crater, components of the bomb,” the PNP chief said.

The PNP was still determining if the ALI can be held criminally liable for the explosion.

As of today, Razon said the police task force headed by Southern Police District director Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman was still studying who would be included in the charges. With Gina Peralta-Elorde, PNA and ABS-CBN website