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By Anthony Vargas And James
Konstantin Galvez Reporters
Police concluded Wednesday that
“negligence” is to blame for the Glorietta 2 mall blast,
although the terror attack angle cannot be completely ruled out yet.
As this developed, Mayor Jejomar
Binay of Makati City urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to
fully disclose the findings of foreign experts on the blast. A
similar request was made by the mall owner, Ayala Land Inc.
Asked by reporters if the blast
was caused by an accident, National Capital Region Police Office
chief, Director Geary Barias, said, “Negligence would be a better
term.”
“We will now determine in the
next stage—who is responsible for the 11 deaths and more than 100
injuries,” he added.
Findings by forensic experts from
Israel and the Australian Federal Police confirmed the findings of
their counterparts that the explosion was not caused by an
improvised bomb.
“There was no evidence to
suggest that explosion was caused or initiated by an IED [improvised
explosive device],” Barias said at a press briefing.
But when Barias was asked if the
findings of the foreign forensic experts were enough to rule out the
terror angle, the Manila police chief said, “We are not ruling it
[terror angle] out.”
He explained that the foreign
experts are helping in the investigation since they are also
concerned if the blast was caused by a terrorist act.
“Their [foreign counterparts]
concern is if this is an act of terrorism,” Barias said.
“Without saying, [it] looks like not a terror attack because
[there] was no use of a bomb.”
He added that investigators are
now looking for the possible “triggers” that could have caused
the explosion of methane and diesel fumes that accumulated at the
Glorietta 2 basement, the origin of the blast.
“Our experts have not pointed
that [out yet],” Barias. “Source [is] unknown. That’s part of
the investigation. Later, the submersible pump will be retrieved and
tested. The objective is to come up with a complete story.”
Aside from the submersible pump,
the other possible explosion triggers the investigators are looking
into are switches, circuit breakers, batteries, motors and lights.
Makati sets own probe
Meanwhile, Mayor Binay on
Wednesday urged the police to disclose the findings of the foreign
experts who took part in the investigation into the blast.
“The PNP should make a full and
detailed disclosure of the reported findings so that there is full
transparency and the public will also know the report,” Binay
said.
He said police “opened their
mouths too soon” on the blast investigation, and may have
prejudged the matter. He noted the lack of direct communication
between the Makati City government and the national police chief,
Director General Avelino Razon Jr.
Makati will still push its
independent probe into the mall blast, and city officials will
discuss that matter with business leaders next November 7 during the
Makati Business Development Council meeting.
“We will find out after the
November 7 meeting what are the suggestions of the private sector,
the business community regarding this,” Binay said, adding that
the latter was supportive of the independent probe.
“In the first place what we are
asking, is a thorough probe on the matter whether it is caused by
[an] accident or terrorism,” Binay added.
The independent probe will also
look at the possible shortcomings of the city government that may
have led to the blast, he said. “If it’s caused by an accident,
we still have to find out if it’s an accident that just happened
or was caused by negligence.”
--With AFP
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